INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Palestinians

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the Palestinian Authority's payment of salaries to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Lynne Featherstone: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given on 31 January. 2013 Official Report, column 943-44W and 18 March 2013, Official Report, column 428-429W.

Serco

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much her Department currently spends on contracts with Serco; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Alan Duncan: The following table provides details of departmental expenditure with Serco since 2008.
	
		
			  Amount (£) 
			 2008-09 0 
			 2009-10 0 
			 2010-11 1,764.86 
			 2011-12 0 
			 2012-13 0

TREASURY

Average Earnings

Richard Burden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent comparative estimate he has made of the rate of increase of average earnings and the consumer price index.

Sajid Javid: In the three months to April 2013 total average weekly earnings increased by 1.3% on the year, and CPI inflation increased by 2.4% over the year to April. However, the best way to deal with today's cost-of-living challenges is to have paid employment. In 2012 the number of people employed in the UK increased faster than most of the UK's major competitors, including the US, France, Germany, Japan and the euro area as a whole. As a result, real household disposable income rose by 1.4% in 2012.

British Overseas Territories

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he plans to take to ensure that the Overseas Territories comply with the standards of beneficial ownership agreed at the June 2013 G8 Summit; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: International standards on the disclosure of company ownership already exist and are set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). The Overseas Territories are held to account through regular assessments against these standards.
	On 15 June 2013, the Overseas Territories committed to produce action plans on beneficial ownership, setting out the concrete steps they will take to ensure greater clarity about who really owns, controls, and benefits from companies and legal arrangements in their jurisdictions.
	The Government will continue to work in partnership with the Overseas Territories to help them take the necessary steps to produce and implement their action plans. This will help ensure they are prepared for the next round of FATF assessments, which begin in 2014.

Business: Government Assistance

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent steps he has taken to support small businesses.

David Gauke: At Budget, the Government announced a new £2,000 Employment Allowance for small business and charities that from April 2014 will reduce their employer national insurance bills. Up to 1.25 million businesses will benefit with around one third of all employers taken out of paying employer NICs altogether.
	In January the annual investment allowance was increased ten-fold from £25,000 to £250,000 for two years. This provides a valuable cash flow benefit that will directly help around 90,000 businesses, and is likely to be of most help to small and medium-sized businesses.
	Further, the Bank of England's Funding for Lending Scheme is encouraging more lending to the UK economy, including providing strong incentives to banks to boost lending to small businesses. The Government are also creating a Business Bank to support the development of diverse finance markets and bring together the management of existing schemes into a single, commercially-minded institution.

Business: Loans

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the 12-month lending growth to all small and medium-sized enterprises, as defined by the series which appears in Chart B from the April 2012 edition of the Bank of England's Trends in Lending publication was in each month from January 2009.

Greg Clark: The 12-month growth in lending to SMEs was published in the Bank of England's April 2012 Trends in Lending publication and is available on its website, for each month from September 2009 to February 2012. These data are no longer published. However, the Bank's Money and Credit publication provides more recent data on lending to SMEs.
	Published data show that the rate of contraction of net lending to SMEs has slowed down, while gross lending to SMEs increased since August 2012 when the Funding for Lending Scheme was announced. The extensions made to the Funding for Lending scheme in April 2013 focus on strengthening incentives to lend to SMEs.

Connaught Asset Management

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what investigations HM Revenue and Customs plans to make into the Connaught Asset Management Limited over alleged fraudulent activity; and what investigations his Department has already made on this matter.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is legally prohibited from discussing the tax affairs of identifiable businesses.
	Section 18 of the Commissioners for Revenues Customs Act 2005 imposes a duty of confidentiality upon officers of HMRC which means they are unable to disclose information which relates to functions of HMRC. This includes any specific action taken in response to information provided.

Devolution

Margaret Curran: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library any concordats which his Department or the public bodies for which he is responsible have with the devolved Administrations.

Danny Alexander: The Memorandum of Understanding and Supplementary Agreements, agreed in September 2012, set out principles which underlie the relationship between the UK Government and the devolved Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These documents are available in the Library.
	The Treasury in addition has agreed bilateral concordats for handling of procedural, practical or policy matters with counterparts in the devolved Administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Copies of the documents are already in the Library.
	We will check whether public bodies have concordats with the devolved Administrations and these, or links to them, will be placed in the House Library in due course.

Interest Rate Swap Transactions

Guto Bebb: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of jobs lost within businesses adversely affected by the sale of interest rate swap products; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of businesses adversely affected by the sale of interest rate swap products; and if he will make a statement.

Greg Clark: The Financial Conduct Authority's review into the mis-selling of interest rate hedging products is now underway and will cover around 40,000 cases.
	The banks have agreed to prioritise the cases of those businesses facing financial difficulty and to stop the payments on these products for such businesses.
	The chief executive officer's of each of the banks participating in the review have personally committed that, except in exceptional circumstances such as, for example, where this is necessary to preserve value in the customer's business, they will not foreclose on or adversely vary existing lending facilities, without obtaining the customer's prior consent.

Public Expenditure

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish a statement of funding policy for the devolved administrations including comparability factors following his spending review statement of 26 June 2013.

Danny Alexander: As set out in the spending round document, full details of the comparability factors used in determining allocations can be found in the Statement of Funding Policy published in 2010.

Public Sector: Redundancy Pay

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the total cost to the public purse is of (a) voluntary redundancies in the public sector, (b) compulsory redundancies in that sector and (c) redundancies in that sector brought about by employment contract changes since May 2010.

Danny Alexander: The Treasury does not hold this information.

Tiuta

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what investigations HM Revenue and Customs plans to make into Tiuta plc and its subsidiaries over alleged fraudulent activity; and what investigations his Department has already made on this matter.

David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is legally prohibited from discussing the tax affairs of identifiable businesses.
	Section 18 of the Commissioners for Revenues Customs Act 2005 imposes a duty of confidentiality upon officers of HMRC which means they are unable to disclose information which relates to functions of HMRC. This includes any specific action taken in response to information provided.

VAT: Public Sector

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of the potential use of VAT avoidance schemes in the public sector; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what recent assessment he has made of the number of NHS trusts in England receiving professional advice on reducing their VAT liability; what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Health on this issue; and if he will make a statement.

David Gauke: The Government keep the tax system under review. HMRC will robustly challenge tax avoidance schemes and artificial arrangements that are designed to reduce the tax liability.
	There is no information available in relation to the number of NHS trusts in England receiving professional advice on reducing their VAT liability.
	HM Treasury Ministers are regularly in contact with Ministers from other Departments in relation to tax issues.

TRANSPORT

A27

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which stretches of the A27 running through West Sussex are categorised as (a) severe congestion, (b) regular congestion, (c) moderate congestion and (d) occasional congestion according to his Department's forecasts up to 2040.

Stephen Hammond: The Government's recently published document 'Investing in Britain's future':
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/investing-in-britains-future
	included a map of England's Strategic Road Network and a forecast of the potential congestion by 2040. This map was produced using outputs of the Department for Transport's National Transport Model (NTM).
	The NTM is designed to forecast long-term trends in traffic, congestion and emissions at a high level across the country. Despite the NTM performing well at this high level, less confidence can be given to forecasts on specific stretches of road. Robust traffic and congestion forecasts at a detailed level would require specific local area modelling. In addition there is uncertainty around future levels of traffic and congestion due to future growth in population and the economy. However, a magnified version of the map that shows the NTM's projected congestion in the morning peak along the A27 in West Sussex in 2040 has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

A27

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the Report by HM Treasury, Investing in Britain's Future, published June 2013, Cm 8669, what the level and estimated completion date of improvements to the A27 running between Southwick Tunnel and West Worthing will be.

Stephen Hammond: It is not possible to provide the information requested as the details of potential schemes on the A27 in this location are yet to be determined.
	As part of this Government's commitment to future infrastructure investment it set out that it would identify and fund solutions to a number of the most notorious and longstanding road hotspots, initially through feasibility studies, that would look at problems and solutions in a number of locations. These locations included the A27 corridor on the south coast, which would include the area around Worthing.
	Working with the relevant stakeholders, the Department and the Highways Agency will define the detailed scope and finalise the timings of these specific studies. The study outputs will inform the nature and scope of future enhancements on the route.

Billing

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average cost to his Department was of processing the payment of an invoice in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of invoices settled in that period his Department paid (a) electronically and (b) by cheque.

Norman Baker: The average cost of processing the payment of an invoice for the Department for Transport and its six executive agencies during the last financial year, 2012-13, is £6.55.
	In determining the average cost of processing an invoice, the cost is calculated by taking the direct costs of the staff involved, and dividing it by the total number of invoices paid.
	The average proportion of invoices settled electronically and by cheque for the Department is:
	Electronic: 89.7%
	Cheque: 10.3%

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the (a) frequency, (b) regularity and (c) speed of passenger rail services on the North East Coast mainline of the (i) construction of and (ii) introduction of rail services on High Speed 2.

Simon Burns: HS2 Ltd has undertaken a high level study into the implications of running on the east coast mainline between Church Fenton and Newcastle. At this stage, we do not anticipate that construction of HS2 will affect the frequency, regularity or speed of services on the ECML although there could be some localised impacts around the link to the classic network at Church Fenton.
	On introduction of the rail services on HS2, there are not likely to be any impacts on the speed of passenger services between Church Fenton and Newcastle, albeit that services which run on the high speed network south of here will benefit with significant journey time reductions to London and Birmingham as well as the intermediate stations in the east midlands and South Yorkshire.
	By providing new capacity for long distance interurban services, HS2 offers opportunities to improve frequency and regularity of services to Newcastle from London and Birmingham from capacity released on the classic network.

Legal Costs

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent on external lawyers' fees in the last year for which figures are available.

Norman Baker: The information requested, for the financial year 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013, can be found in the table below. These figures have been extracted from the Department's central finance systems and those of its Executive Agencies, where that information has been held in an appropriate format and where it has been possible to identify fees for legal consultancy and services separately from other costs. These fees do not include services provided by other government or public bodies, for example the Treasury Solicitors Department.
	Further information, other than that described above, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. Budgetary responsibility for legal consultancy is largely delegated to policy teams which are individually responsible for expenditure.
	
		
			 £ 
			  DfT Central Agencies 
			 Costs for Legal Consultancy & Services 11,982,668 3,049,096 
		
	
	By way of comparison for the financial year 2009/10, the table below shows expenditure recorded for external legal consultancy and services for the central Department and Executive Agencies, taken from data published for the 2009/10 Public Sector Procurement Expenditure Survey.
	
		
			 £ 
			  DfT Central Agencies 
			 Costs for Legal Consultancy & Services 12,699,268 13,713,464

M54: M6 Toll

David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what resources his Department has committed to the development of the M54 to M6 toll link road;
	(2)  when he will be able to publish draft route options for the M54 to M6 toll link road.

Stephen Hammond: The Chief Secretary to the Treasury's statement of 27 June 2013, Official Report, columns 465-73, “Investing in Britain's Future”, committed to funding the M54 to M6 Toll Link Road subject to finalising options and agreement being reached on developer contributions.
	The Highways Agency will progress this and the other schemes committed to in the statement and will make its plans known in due course.

M54: M6 Toll

David Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions his Department has had with the M6 toll road operator on the development of a link road to the M54.

Stephen Hammond: In recent months meetings have been held between the Department and Midland Expressway Ltd (“MEL”) to discuss the M6 Toll. The contribution from MEL to the M54 link has been part of these discussions although there has been no change to the position agreed in 2006.
	Following the Chief Secretary to the Treasury's statement of 27 June 2013, Official Report, commons 465-73, “Investing in Britain's Future”, which committed to funding the M54 to M6 Toll Link Road subject to finalising options and agreement on developer contributions, the Highways Agency will progress this and the other schemes committed to in the June statement and will make its plans known in due course.

Mobile Phones

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which companies supply (a) mobile telephones and (b) mobile data services to his Department.

Norman Baker: Suppliers of mobile telephones and data services to Department for Transport and its six Executive Agencies are shown below:
	
		
			 Agency Mobile telephone providers Mobile data providers 
			 DfTc Vodafone Excalibur Communications O2 Orange Vodafone 
			 Driving Standards Agency Vodafone Vodafone/EE 
			 Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Vodafone/Orange Vodafone 
			 Highways Agency Vodafone/O2 Orange/EE 
			 Maritime and Coastguard Agency Vodafone/EE EE 
			 Vehicle Certification Agency Vodafone Vodafone 
			 Vehicle and Operator Services Agency EE Vodafone/EE

Network Rail

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with (a) the Office of Rail Regulation and (b) Network Rail regarding the alliance formed between employees of Network Rail, Laing O'Rourke, VolkerRail and Atkins to carry out work on rail infrastructure in Staffordshire; how many Network Rail employees are working under this arrangement; and what steps partners in such alliances are legally required to undertake to (i) license and (ii) register these models of working.

Simon Burns: In close consultation with the Office of Rail Regulation, Network Rail introduced the concept of ‘alliancing' in 2011, to find innovative and cost effective ways to successfully deliver the Stafford Area Improvements Programme. Network Rail then actively engaged with the supply chain to develop the concept.
	Formed from Network Rail (both as client and delivery agent), VolkerRail, Laing O'Rourke and Atkins, all parties are co-located in an integrated team, with all taking an equal share of the risk and the reward. The alliance is also actively incentivised to continually review and revise its costs, working towards further efficiencies. The commitment to partnership working is reflected in the staffing, with an even split of representatives from the four partners across the core team of circa 80. To enable all four parties to operate as an alliance, a distinct legal organisation was created with all necessary approvals in place and compliant within the existing statutory and regulatory framework.

Network Rail

Joan Walley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of how partners in the alliance formed between Network Rail, Laing O'Rourke, VolkerRail and Atkins intend to achieve projected savings from Network Rail's budget for the Stafford Area Improvement Programme.

Simon Burns: The Government support the principle of partnership-working between Network Rail and its delivery partners to secure key projects and outcomes more efficiently than would otherwise be possible. The Staffordshire Alliance is one element of the rail industry's commitment to partnership working to reduce the costs and meet the challenges set out by the McNulty report. By working towards a single, collaborative contract based around shared values and behaviours, the Alliance has been able to achieve significant savings when compared with traditional methods of contracting. Through direct engagement with the supply chain, from tender through to contract award; initial savings of circa 10% against a budget of £255million have been made.
	Now post contract award, the alliance through an ongoing programme of innovation and cost control is looking to deliver further savings across the lifecycle of the Stafford Area Improvements Programme. This process is closely scrutinised by Network Rail and the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). The ORR has actively approved the use of alliances and has made them part of its funding proposals for Network Rail from 2014 to 2019.

Press: Subscriptions

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent on newspapers, periodicals and trade publications in the last 12 months.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport and five of its Executive Agencies has spent £76,108 on newspapers, periodicals and trade publications in the last 12 months.
	This compares to an equivalent spend of £267,642 in the 2009-10 financial year. The Driving Standards Agency could only provide the figure at disproportionate cost.

Railways

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on railway extensions on woodlands and the environment.

Simon Burns: Railway extensions, whether promoted by the Government, Network Rail or others, must meet the appropriate legal requirements under the environmental impact assessment regulations. Where an environmental impact assessment is required this will include an assessment of the railway on the environment, including woodlands.

Rescue Services: Belfast

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 25 June 2013, Official Report, column 161W, on rescue services: Belfast, whether watch managers at MRCC Belfast were consulted on the decision to alter the risk-assessed staffing level at MRCC Belfast.

Stephen Hammond: Decisions about risk assessed staffing levels are matters for rescue centre and coastal safety managers. As part of that process, discussions routinely involve watch managers, including those at MRCC Belfast.

Rescue Services: Belfast

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 25 June 2013, Official Report, column 161W, on rescue services: Belfast, what the current risk-assessed staffing level at MRCC Belfast is; and what the risk assessed staffing level prior to 11 March 2013 was.

Stephen Hammond: The current suggested risk assessed level (high season) for MRCC Belfast is six watch-keepers for weekdays and weekend days and nights, and five for weekday nights. Prior to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's internal meeting on the 11 March 2013, the forecast risk assessed level for the new combined area during the high season was seven watch-keepers for weekdays and weekend days and nights, and five for weekday nights. The high season figures were developed before the transfer of operations for wider area working across MRCC Clyde, MRCC Stornoway and Belfast, and reviewed in light of experience and completion of the technical improvements.

Rescue Services: Belfast

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 25 June 2013, Official Report, column 161W, on rescue services: Belfast, what criteria were used to determine the alteration of the risk-assessed staffing level at MRCC Belfast.

Stephen Hammond: The criteria used were consistent with the current risk assessment process that was introduced in 2006 using historic incident data relating to time and type of incident. This provides a suggested watch keeping complement.

Roads: Construction

Therese Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) length of scheme, (b) total estimated cost, (c) contribution set aside from the Government, (d) expected contribution from local government, (e) expected contribution from the private sector and (f) expected contribution from tolling is of each road scheme announced in the Infrastructure Review.

Stephen Hammond: It is not possible to provide the information in the format requested.
	The Government set out their commitment to future infrastructure investment in the Command Paper ‘Investing in Britain's future’ in June 2013. In terms of our national road network, Government have set out plans to treble today's levels of investment in major projects by the end of the decade. Tables A.3, A.4 and A.5 in Annex A of the Command Paper sets out the full pipeline of road projects that this investment will cover.
	We need to finalise the details for some of the scheme options and to determine the delivery programme for the schemes announced. As part of devising the delivery programme, decisions will be made on the specific levels of funding on a scheme by scheme basis.

Shipping: Conditions of Employment

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) shipping companies and (b) maritime crewing agencies have been issued with Maritime Labour Convention compliance certification by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to date.

Stephen Hammond: 226 ships operated by 52 companies have undergone inspections by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to date, for verification of compliance with the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC). Upon UK ratification of the MLC these vessels will immediately be issued with Maritime Labour Certificates.
	27 recruitment and placement agencies have undergone inspections for verification of compliance with Standard A1.4.5 of the MLC and will be issued with Certificates of Compliance on UK ratification.

Shipping: Crew

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 18 June 2013, Official Report, column 593W, on shipping: crew, if he will take steps to ensure that indicative projections of UK seafarer (a) officer and (b) rating numbers appear in the 2013 edition of his Department's annual UK seafarer statistics.

Stephen Hammond: Indicative projections of seafarer numbers were not published in the UK seafarer statistics 2012 due to an ongoing methodological review of the projections. Depending on the outcome of that review, we plan to publish projections of seafarer numbers in the annual UK seafarer statistics for 2013.

Shipping: Crew

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 18 June 2013, Official Report, column 593W, on shipping: crew, for what reasons data on indicative projections of seafarer numbers did not appear in the 2012 edition of his Department's annual UK seafarer statistics; and for what reasons indicative projections of the number of UK seafarers based on current recruitment and retention rates in the industry were not contained in that document.

Stephen Hammond: Indicative projections of seafarer numbers were not published in the UK seafarer statistics 2012 due to an ongoing methodological review of the projections. The methodological review will assess whether the assumptions used to project seafarer numbers, based upon past recruitment and retention rates are robust. Projections of seafarer numbers are not National Statistics.

Shipping: Qualifications

Katy Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the average annual course fees are for deck and engine officer qualifications.

Stephen Hammond: This information is not held centrally. Nautical colleges make a commercial decision on the fees they charge for deck and engineering qualifications. A list of approved nautical colleges can be found on the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's website at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/mcga07-home/workingatsea/mcga-trainingandcert/ds-stc-usefulcontacts/ds-stc-externalorgs-colleges.htm

Sick Leave

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many days on average staff of his Department in each pay grade were absent from work as a result of ill health in each of the last 12 months.

Norman Baker: The following table shows the information requested for the Department for Transport, including its six executive agencies:
	
		
			  2012 2013 
			 Grade June July August September October November December January February March April May 
			 PB1 / AA 0.45 0.58 0.58 0.59 0.62 0.68 0.53 0.64 0.56 0.64 0.64 0.56 
			 PB2 / AO 0.69 0.75 0.71 0.71 0.82 0.85 0.75 0.78 0.66 0.68 0.65 0.65 
			 PB3 / EO 0.59 0.76 0.65 0.63 0.70 0.78 0.59 0.71 0.59 0.59 0.59 0.59 
			 PB4 / HEO 0.37 0.50 0.46 0.42 0.42 0.53 0.52 0.57 0.43 0.47 0.35 0.29 
			 PB5 / SEO 0.20 0.26 0.22 0.31 0.30 0.30 0.25 0.31 0.27 0.26 0.25 0.23 
			 PB6 / G7 0.15 0.23 0.16 0.21 0.24 0.35 0.32 0.37 0.28 0.26 0.30 0.24 
			 PB7 / G6 0.22 0.22 0.24 0.21 0.16 0.17 0.13 0.17 0.17 0.13 0.12 0.20 
			 SCS 0.14 0.04 0.04 0.02 0.02 0.12 0.01 0.01 0.12 0.18 0.13 0.06 
			 DfT all 0.52 0.62 0.57 0.57 0.63 0.69 0.58 0.64 0.54 0.56 0.53 0.51

Staff

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department spent on (a) recruitment agency fees, (b) outplacement agency fees for displaced or redundant staff and (c) staff training in each of the last 12 months.

Norman Baker: The information requested can be found in the following tables:
	
		
			 (a) Recruitment agency fees in each of the last 12 months 
			  £ 
			 2012  
			 June 19,553 
			 July — 
			 August — 
			 September — 
			 October 120,162 
			 November 10,000 
			 December 33,286 
			   
			 2013  
			 January 8,610 
			 February 12,672 
			 March 12,036 
			 April 57,892 
			 May 62,313 
			 Total(1) 336,504 
			 (1 )Total figure includes an annual training spend by Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA). There is no monthly breakdown available for their data. 
		
	
	The Department for Transport has strict controls for the process of filling its vacancies, and the use of recruitment agencies. Recruitment agencies are used only in the recruitment of senior civil service appointments or for highly specialist roles, where the Department finds it hard to attract quality candidates.
	The Department did not spend any money on outplacement agency fees for displaced staff or redundant staff in each of the last 12 months.
	
		
			 (c) Staff training in each of the last 12 months 
			  £ 
			 2012  
			 June 153,192 
			 July 329,325 
			 August 252,377 
			 September 321,773 
			 October 417,149 
			 November 326,491 
			 December 311,440 
			   
			 2013  
			 January 393,902 
			 February 293,027 
			 March 350,486 
			 April 115,080 
			 May 363,203 
			 Total(1) 4,071,796 
			 (1)Total figure includes an annual training spend by Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA). There is no monthly breakdown available for their data. 
		
	
	The Department is committed to investing in its staff and ensuring people have the skills they need to perform their job effectively. We actively encourage staff to take five days training a year through initiatives including the civil service's Campaign for Learning programme.
	Consideration is also given as to whether the intended aims of training and development can be delivered by different means such as workplace meetings or electronically. All training is delivered in accordance with Cabinet Office Learning and Development controls.

Tolls

Therese Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what his policy is on the tolling of existing roads;
	(2)  what criteria have been used to assess whether existing roads being enhanced should be tolled for future use.

Stephen Hammond: The Government have made a clear commitment not to toll existing road capacity and this has not changed. We have always said we would look at schemes which would fund significant new capacity through tolling. There will be cases where the combination of the significant expense of the scheme and the distribution of the benefits means that it is fair that users meet some of the costs of the scheme, rather than general taxpayers. This would be in very limited circumstances where schemes deliver new roads or transform an existing road into an entirely new route beyond all recognition and there is a strong economic and commercial case for a contribution from tolling.

Transport: Finance

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he will take to ensure that money allocated by his Department to the single local growth fund will be spent on transport.

Norman Baker: Funding for transport within the single local growth fund is not ring-fenced for transport purposes only—in line with the recommendations of Lord Heseltine's report “No Stone Unturned”.
	However, we will be expecting the strategic economic plans put forward by Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) to reflect a balanced package of measures—including appropriate transport projects for their particular circumstances—and capital funding beyond 2015-16 is provided to enable long term planning of priority transport investments in local areas.
	Local Transport Bodies (LTBs) are currently drawing up prioritised list of major local transport projects to be funded, under devolved arrangements, from 2015-16. Our expectation is that, as LTB's plans should have been developed in close collaboration with LEPs, the LEP strategic economic plans should either include schemes identified in these prioritised lists or set out clearly why the LEP has taken a different view from the LTB.
	Officials and Ministers from the Department for Transport will be fully involved in the assessment of the strategic economic plans that will be produced by LEPs and the associated decisions on growth deals and the award of single local growth funding.

Transport: Finance

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what input his Department will have into the allocation of monies from the single local growth fund;
	(2)  by which criteria bids for the single local growth fund will be judged; and what role his Department will play in the allocation of funding.

Norman Baker: Guidance on the growth deals that the Government will negotiate with each Local Enterprise Partnership will be published shortly. This will include a high level summary of the criteria to be used in awarding funding from the single local growth fund
	Officials and Ministers from the Department for Transport are fully involved in the development of this guidance and will also participate fully in the assessment of the strategic economic plans that will be produced by Local Enterprise Partnerships and the associated decisions on growth deals and the award of single local growth funding.
	Some elements of the single local growth fund, including some Local Authority Transport Majors funding, will be allocated on a formula basis.

Transport: Finance

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to his Department's announcement of 27 June 2013, whether the indicative allocations from the local authority transport major projects fund to local enterprise partnerships have been superseded by those monies placed in the single local growth fund in the 2013 Spending Review.

Norman Baker: No. The Local Authority Transport Majors funding that has been included within the single local growth fund comprises 3 elements: a guaranteed minimum funding to be allocated to each Local Transport Body/Local Enterprise Partnership area on a per capita formula basis shortly—as previously planned; committed funding for schemes already approved by the Department, but to be delivered partly or wholly after 2015; and further funding to be allocated to Local Enterprise Partnerships on a competitive basis through their growth deal negotiations with Government.

Travel

Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much his Department has allocated to spend on cycling and active travel in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

Norman Baker: The Department has allocated £177 million of funds in 2013-14 and £127 million of funds in 2014-15 to the Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) where 95 of the 96 LSTF projects have cycling or walking elements in them. This is on top of the £36.8 million allocated in 2013-14 to go towards improving cycle safety and infrastructure, linking communities, rolling out cycle rail and creating a cycling legacy in our Cities and National Parks, a further £25.2 million will go to this in 2014-15. Departmental funding allocations for 2015-16 are still being developed, however we are working to ensure the best result possible for cycling and walking.

Vacancies

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his Department's vacancy rate was in 2012-13; and what vacancy rate has been assumed for 2013-14.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport does not record a staff vacancy rate and no rate has been assumed for Business Planning purposes for 2012 -13. However, staff turnover in the financial year 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2013 was 6.24% and it remains at a similar level so far in 2013-14.
	The Department has strict controls to the process of filling the resulting vacancies. External recruitments are only considered for approval if they are deemed to be frontline, or other business critical e.g. for safety, in line with Cabinet Office guidance.

WALES

Serco

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Serco; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Stephen Crabb: The Wales Office has not held contracts with Serco since 2008.

Social Networking

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will list all Twitter accounts for which officials of his Department (a) have had and (b) currently have responsibility for (i) monitoring and (ii) updating.

David Jones: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 19 June 2013, Official Report, column 706W.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Broadband: Rural Areas

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on the digital communication requirements of smart meters; and what assessment he has made of the mobile and broadband communications infrastructure required in rural areas.

Gregory Barker: Officials from the Department are in regular contact with those in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to ensure co-ordination of our policies in relation to communications infrastructure for rural areas.
	A competitive procurement process is under way for the communication service requirements of smart meters. A number of technologies have been proposed. Depending on the solution selected for each region, these may, or may not, make use of parts of the mobile telephony infrastructure in which investment is being supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Broadband: Rural Areas

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions he has had with mobile network operators and broadband companies on the coverage of mobile signal and broadband and communication requirements of smart meters in rural areas.

Gregory Barker: Officials in the Department are conducting competitions to put in place a communications system for smart metering to reach as many households in Great Britain as possible. A number of technologies have been proposed in response to these requirements including solutions using mobile telephone networks. The technology or technologies selected for each of three regions, as well as the extent of coverage achieved, will be determined by the outcome of these competitions which is expected to be announced in the late summer.

Energy: Meters

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what discussions he has had with energy companies on the digital communication requirements of smart meters.

Gregory Barker: The Department is working with energy suppliers and network operators to roll out smart gas and electricity meters across Great Britain by 2020. As part of this we have developed and consulted upon the communication requirements for the messaging system that will connect smart meters with the business systems of energy suppliers and network operators. These consultations have included detailed discussions with energy suppliers and network companies about their business requirements.

Offshore Industry

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department is taking to reduce emissions from the upstream oil and gas industry.

Michael Fallon: Government are determined to maximise overall economic recovery of UK oil and gas and minimise any waste of these national resources. To this end we restrict, via a formal consenting procedure, flaring and venting of gas from UK oil and gas fields, to the minimum levels that are technically possible and economically sensible. In addition onshore flaring operations require a permit from the relevant environmental agency under the Environment Agencies Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010.

Renewable Energy

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how much his Department invested in (a) solar, (b) wind, (c) hydro, (d) marine, (e) biomass and (f) geothermal energy in each of the last five years.

Michael Fallon: The Department does not record its financial support for renewable technologies in the format requested. Support for renewable generation is provided under the Renewable Obligation (RO), Feed-in Tariff (FITs) scheme, Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
	The RO is administered by Ofgem and provides market based support for large scale deployment of renewable energy generation. Ofgem publishes an annual report outlining support provided under the RO, which can be viewed online at:
	http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/RenewablObl/Pages/RenewablObl.aspx
	Ofgem also administers the Feed-in Tariff (FITs) scheme which supports small scale low carbon generation. Details regarding the cost of the FITs scheme can be found in the FITs annual report, produced by Ofgem, which can be viewed online at:
	http://www.ofgem.gov.uk/Sustainability/Environment/fits/ad/Pages/ad.aspx
	The RHPP administered by the Energy Saving Trust (EST) provides one off payments to householders to help them buy renewable heating technologies—including solar thermal panels, heat pumps and biomass boilers. Further details regarding the RHPP, including amounts paid out under the scheme, can be viewed online at:
	http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Generating-energy/Getting-money-back/Renewable-Heat-Premium-Payment-Phase-2
	The RHI provides support for renewable heat technologies. The RHI was launched in November 2011 with a scheme for the non-domestic sector that provides payments to industry, businesses and public sector organisations. Ofgem publishes data on the amount paid under the RHI on a daily basis, which can be viewed online at:
	https://rhi.ofgem.gov.uk/Public/ExternalReportDetail.aspx?RP=RHIPublicReport
	In addition, there are assorted grant schemes (existing and historic) that support the deployment of renewables. For example, the Low Carbon Buildings Programme, the Low Carbon Communities Challenge, the Deep Geothermal Challenge Fund, the Environmental Transformation Fund and others grants to support the development of innovative energy technologies.

Social Networking

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will list all Twitter accounts for which officials of his Department (a) have had and (b) currently have responsibility for (i) monitoring and (ii) updating.

Gregory Barker: The Department of Energy and Climate Change has only ever had one Twitter account for which officials have responsibility for monitoring and updating.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Rural Businesses

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what measures are in place to help people who live and work in the countryside to grow their businesses and create rural jobs.

David Heath: Stimulating economic growth is the Government's top priority. We are working to ensure rural areas contribute to and benefit from that growth. To support rural businesses and create jobs, we are investing in superfast broadband and mobile infrastructure; piloting rural growth networks to test different ways of helping rural businesses stimulate economic growth; and boosting key sectors such as tourism. We are also increasing export potential and unblocking barriers to growth by removing red tape.

Flood Defences

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps he plans to take to improve engagement between landowners and the Environment Agency in relation to flood defences.

Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency is working to improve its engagement with landowners and others. It will be publishing an improved flood asset maintenance protocol in the autumn, incorporating clear principles of engagement. Where the Environment Agency is considering changing its maintenance activities, it will hold discussions with landowners and other local interests about its plans. Such discussions will help to identify opportunities for landowners to undertake maintenance activities and how these can best be supported.

Pollinators

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress his Department has made on developing an holistic strategy on pollinators.

David Heath: DEFRA delivers a wide range of policies and initiatives that protect bees and other pollinators. However, we recognise the need for an integrated and holistic approach to tackle the pressures on pollinators. That is why the Secretary of State has asked for an urgent review of policy and evidence to be carried out, culminating in a National Pollinator Strategy and a renewal of commitments to these species by both government and non-government organisations.

Animal Welfare

Kwasi Kwarteng: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans he has to introduce a regulatory body to monitor the treatment of animals in addition to the provisions in the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

David Heath: There are already a number of areas where the welfare of animals is regulated by bodies. For example the selling of pet animals, the breeding and selling of dogs and the boarding of cats and dogs are all regulated by local authorities. In addition, the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency safeguards the health and welfare of animals through research, surveillance and inspection and is responsible for enforcing farm welfare legislation. There are no proposals to introduce any additional regulatory body in respect of the welfare of animals.

Dairy Products: Ireland

Ian Paisley Jnr: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Republic of Ireland on the effects of the National Dairy Council of Ireland's new labelling programme on the ability of farmers in Northern Ireland to export their products for sale in the Republic of Ireland.

David Heath: Following my visit to Northern Ireland recently I drew this matter to the attention of the Secretary of State. He hopes to meet Simon Coveney, the Irish Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, in the near future and will discuss with him trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Floods: Insurance

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with reference to his Department's report on Securing the future availability and affordability of home insurance in areas of floodrisk, published on 27 June 2013, how many Band H properties in England are estimated to be within the (a) 200,000 homes at high-risk of flooding and (b) 500,000 properties to be included with the Flood Re model for flood insurance.

Richard Benyon: Properties in Council tax Band H in England represent approximately 0.6% of the total households in England and are those valued at or above £320,001, based on the estimated sale price on 1 April 1991. At current prices Band H houses may cost £900,000 or more (based on cumulative growth in Office of National Statistics average house prices since 1991).
	An estimated 2,000 Band H households in the UK are thought to be at a significant level of flood risk. The Government proposes that Flood Re should target support towards lower income households. Band H households would be excluded to avoid these high value properties enjoying disproportionate benefit at the expense of lower income households.
	A six week consultation seeking views on the proposed approach for flood insurance, including whether Band H properties should be excluded, is now open.

Polyisobutene

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment he has made of the effects on fish and other wildlife of the discharge of polyisobutene from ships in early 2013.

Richard Benyon: DEFRA and its delivery bodies worked with the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) and other organisations such as the RSPCA, RSPB, and the Devon and Cornwall. Wildlife Trusts, to monitor the impacts of the serious polyisobutene-related incidents, in February and April 2013 along the South Coast of England, in particular on sea bird populations.
	For example, the Environment Agency carried out initial sampling and analysis of material taken from affected birds on behalf of the MCA. The aim of this work was to try to help the MCA identify what the likely pollutant was in the early stages of the first spill. During the second incident they undertook limited water quality sampling at a number of beaches but found no evidence that bathing water quality had been adversely affected.
	While the incident is unlikely to have had significant adverse effects on the functioning of the marine ecosystem or on commercial fisheries it has caused unnecessary suffering and is highly regrettable. DEFRA is continuing to work closely with the Department for Transport and the MCA to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

PRIME MINISTER

Bilderberg Group

Michael Meacher: To ask the Prime Minister whether (a) he, (b) the Chancellor of the Exchequer and (c) the Minister without Portfolio attended the recent Bilderberg conference at Watford in an official capacity; and whether any previous attendance at Bilderberg conferences has been in an official capacity.

David Cameron: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Minister without Portfolio, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke), on 10 June 2013, Official Report, column 25.

Food Banks

Gordon Banks: To ask the Prime Minister with reference to his oral answer of 27 February 2013, Official Report, column 306, when he will (a) respond to the petition of the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire on food banks and (b) answer the hon. Member's subsequent email correspondence of 27 February 2013 and 12 March 2013 relating to that issue.

David Cameron: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 14 March 2013.

Ian Livingston

Helen Goodman: To ask the Prime Minister 
	(1)  what Ian Livingston's intended ministerial responsibilities are;
	(2)  if he will publish a full declaration of Ian Livingston's interests and assets.

David Cameron: I refer the hon. Member to the press notice issued by my office on 19 June which can be accessed online at
	www.gov.uk
	Copies have been placed in the Library of the House.
	On appointment to Ministerial Office, Ian Livingston will be complying with the requirements of the Ministerial Code.

Social Networking

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Prime Minister if he will list all Twitter accounts for which officials of No. 10 Downing Street (a) have had and (b) currently have responsibility for (i) monitoring and (ii) updating.

David Cameron: Information about all official social media networks used by my office can be found on the No. 10 website.
	Social media communications are handled by my office in accordance with the published moderation guidelines on the gov.uk website.

Trident

Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Prime Minister when the Government intends to make the public version of the Cabinet Office review of alternatives to Trident available to Parliament.

David Cameron: A public version of the Trident Review will be made available to Parliament in due course.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Duwayne Brooks

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Attorney-General whether the Crown Prosecution Service has ever been made aware that there was a possibility that undercover police officers were involved in gathering evidence used in the 1994 prosecution of Duwayne Brooks for criminal damage.

Oliver Heald: The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has advised that under its retention policy the original file in this case would have been destroyed, and it is not able to provide this information. However, the CPS will co-operate fully with the Operation Herne investigation referred to in the Home Secretary's statement of 24 June 2013, Official Report, column 25-27. Confirmation of the position might become possible as a result of that investigation.

Vending Machines

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Attorney-General how many vending machines in his Department's premises contain snack foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value.

Oliver Heald: On premises controlled by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) there are three vending machines that contain snack foods. There are also an additional five vending machines that contain snack foods located in other properties occupied by the CPS, which are provided by the premises' major occupiers or landlords.
	These vending machines are stocked and maintained by the companies providing the machines and while it is possible that they may be stocked with snack foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value, no central record of the contents has been kept to date.
	There are no vending machines present in any of the other premises occupied by staff in the Law Officers' Departments.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Employment and Support Allowance

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many people with (a) cystic fibrosis, (b) rheumatoid arthritis and (c) multiple sclerosis placed in the work-related activity group for employment and support allowance have been reassessed to date; and how many have been found fit for work following that reassessment;
	(2)  how many people with (a) cystic fibrosis, (b) rheumatoid arthritis and (c) multiple sclerosis placed in the support group for employment and support allowance have been reassessed to date; and how many have been placed in the work-related activity group following that reassessment;
	(3)  how many people with (a) cystic fibrosis, (b) rheumatoid arthritis and (c) multiple sclerosis who have undergone more than one work capability assessment while in the work related activity group for employment and support allowance have received lower point scores when they were reassessed to date.

Mark Hoban: The Department regularly publishes official statistics on employment and support allowance (ESA) and the work capability assessment (WCA). The latest publication was released in April 2013 and can be found here:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/employment-and-support-allowance-work-capability-assessment-april-2013
	Table 6 in the spreadsheet accompanying the publication breaks down how claimants are allocated to the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG). This shows that 54% of claimants entering the WRAG after the initial WCA on their claim, did so based on the points awarded at the WCA. The remainder entered the WRAG for reasons other than points awarded at the WCA, these reasons are explained in the publication.
	In response to the first question above, table 1 as follows provides information on the number of claimants who were awarded the WRAG based on points scored at the initial WCA and who were subsequently awarded fewer points at the second WCA on the same claim. Claimants who were awarded the WRAG at the second WCA based on a reason other than points scored have been excluded.
	
		
			 Table 1: Number of claimants in the WRAG at the initial WCA who were awarded the WRAG at the 2nd WCA but received points—All new ESA claims starting between October 2008 and August 2012 
			 Health Condition Claimants awarded fewer points at 2nd WCA 
			 Cystic Fibrosis (1)— 
			 Multiple Sclerosis 60 
			 Rheumatoid arthritis 90 
			 (1 )Denotes nil or negligible 
		
	
	Table 2 as follows provides the requested data for the remaining questions above.
	
		
			 Table 2: Comparison of outcomes of the initial and 2nd WCA on the same claim—All new ESA claims starting between October 2008 and August 2012 
			 Health condition Claimants in WRAG after initial WCA who were then found fit for work at 2nd WCA on the same claim Claimants in support group after initial WCA who then entered the WRAG at 2nd WCA on the same claim Claimants having 2 or more WCAs on the same claim 
			 Cystic Fibrosis 10 10 220 
			 Multiple Sclerosis 100 100 3,560 
			 Rheumatoid arthritis 270 90 2,820 
			 Notes: 1. All figures relate to claims starting between October 2008 and August 2012, who have completed at least two WCAs on the same claim. 2. All figures have been rounded to the nearest 10. Source: The data presented above come from benefit claims data held by the Department for Work and Pensions, functional assessment data from Atos Healthcare.

Housing Benefits: Social Rented Housing

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the likely effect on housing benefit expenditure of the 165,000 additional affordable rent homes announced by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury in his oral statement on 27 June 2013.

Steve Webb: No assessment is available at this point.
	The Chief Secretary's announcement of 165,000 new affordable homes represents an important contribution to the increase in housing supply the country needs. The majority of these new homes will be for affordable rent, with the remainder for shared ownership. As affordable rent is up to 80% of market rent, these new homes will generate housing benefit savings for tenants who otherwise typically live in more expensive private rented accommodation.
	However, as with the current programme, some of the funding for these new homes will come through conversions of social rented homes to affordable rent when they become vacant and the sale of social rented homes on the open market. This may incur some housing benefit costs and the net effect on housing benefit expenditure will only be known once we have the outcome of the competitive bidding process for the new programme.

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to his answer of 25 March 2013, Official Report, column 986W, on social security benefits, what the total amount of benefit withheld from fixed jobseeker's allowance sanctions was in 2012-13.

Mark Hoban: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer of 25 March 2013, Official Report, column 986W, on social security benefits.
	The table shows the total amount of jobseeker's allowance (JSA) withheld to the nearest £ million (in actual prices) as a result of fixed sanctions in each of the last four years up to 22 October 2012:
	
		
			  Benefit withheld from fixed JSA sanctions (£ million) 
			 2009-10 11 
			 2010-11 43 
			 2011-12 45 
			 2012-13 (to October 2012) 60 
		
	
	The total amount of benefit withheld as a result of benefit sanctions is interpreted here as the maximum benefit amount that claimants would have received if they had continued to be on benefit for the length of the sanction. Since some people would have flowed off benefit in the period of the sanction and that also they might have flowed off benefit had they not received a sanction, the figures calculated represent overestimates for the actual benefit that might have been withheld.
	This calculation is performed for both people aged under 25 and over 25-years-old to reflect different JSA rates.
	The calculation does not net the figures for hardship payments.
	Additional data on jobseeker's allowance fixed sanctions have not been published.
	On 22 October 2012, a revised jobseeker's allowance sanctions regime was introduced. The publication of statistics covering the new regime has been delayed to allow sufficient quality assurance.

Jobseeker’s Allowance

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on each passported benefit for jobseeker's allowance claimants, in each of the last three years; and how much he estimates will be spent on such benefits in each of the next three years.

Mark Hoban: The Department for Work and Pensions is responsible for the expenditure of the following passported benefits: Housing benefit, council tax benefit, funeral payments, Sure Start maternity grants and cold weather payments. Details of expenditure can be found in the table:
	
		
			 Estimated expenditure paid to passported JSA claimants in the last three years 
			 £ million 
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Housing benefit 2,755 3,105 3,332 
			 Council tax benefit 498 534 568 
			 Sure Start maternity grants 9.7 6.0 4.5 
			 Funeral payments 3.3 3.6 3.8 
		
	
	A breakdown by individual qualifying benefit is not available for cold weather payments.
	Forecasts by passported benefit are not available. However, a forecast of Housing benefit expenditure paid to all JSA claimants, including non-passported contributory JSA claimants, is available in the ‘Housing Benefit' sheet at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/195319/expenditure_tables_Budget_2013.xls.xls
	Future expenditure on council tax benefit is the responsibility of local authorities.
	Notes:
	The breakdown of Sure Start maternity grant and funeral payments is estimated based on the social fund computer system data.
	2010-11 and 2011-12 figures are aligned to the latest published expenditure out-turn available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2013
	2012-13 figures are aligned to the published Social Fund White Paper 2012-13 available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/209379/DWP_Annual_Report_on_the_Social_fund.pdf
	The breakdown of HB and CTB expenditure is based on a combination of statistical data and local authority subsidy returns, as outturn expenditure data are not available at this level. Expenditure in 2012-13 is estimated and is subject to change. These estimates are consistent with the latest published expenditure out-turn available at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2013
	The expenditure on other passported benefits is the responsibility of the individual Departments or local authorities that have the ownership of the benefit in question.

National Insurance Contributions: Self-Employed

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make it his policy that self-employed people should be able to pay voluntary class 1 national insurance contributions to ensure that they are eligible for contribution based jobseeker's allowance if they become unemployed.

Mark Hoban: HM Revenue and Customs is responsible for the policy around voluntary national insurance contributions. However, income-based jobseeker's allowance is available to self-employed people who meet the eligibility criteria. The Department administers a wide range of benefits and allowances that are available to people on low incomes. Self-employed people who meet the qualifying criteria may be entitled to housing benefit, help with council tax and NHS charges. Those working and on a low income may be entitled to working tax credit whilst those with children may be entitled to child tax credit.
	Class 2 national insurance contributions provide self-employed people with protection against ill-health, bereavement and old age by providing entitlement to employment and support allowance, bereavement benefits and basic state pension and the rate of contributions they pay reflects this. There are no plans to extend this entitlement to contributory jobseeker's allowance.

Staff

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his Department spent on (a) recruitment agency fees, (b) outplacement agency fees for displaced or redundant staff and (c) staff training in each of the last 12 months.

Mark Hoban: The information is as follows:
	(a) From June 2012 to May 2013 DWP spent a total of £17,445,421 on recruitment agency fees, which is primarily salaries paid to interim staff.
	
		
			 £ 
			  Spend on recruitment agency fees (interim recruitment) Spend on recruitment agency fees (permanent recruitment) Total 
			 June 2012 561,858 12,000 573,858 
			 July 2012 1,268,210 12,028 1,280,238 
			 August 2012(1) 1,789,605 — 1,789,605 
			 September 2012 1,649,958 383 1,650,341 
			 October 2012 1,873,096 31,981 1,905,077 
			 November 2012 1,455,818 — 1,455,818 
			 December 2012 1,460,006 26,643 1,486,649 
			 January 2013 1,360,284 188,837 1,549,121 
			 February 2013 1,265,883 71,921 1,337,804 
			 March 2013 1,059,541 44,312 1,103,853 
			 April 2013 1,999,901 57,456 2,057,357 
			 May 2013 1,246,842 6,928 1,253,770 
			 Total 16,991,002 452,489 17,443,491 
			 (1 )Child Maintenance Group expenditure is included from August 2012, when they joined DWP. 
		
	
	These workers are engaged where we do not have available skilled resource in-house, mainly in specialist roles such as project management and IT.
	All central recruitment is authorised only in exceptional circumstances and is subject to ministerial approval.
	(b) From June 2012 to May 2013 DWP spent a total of £14,963 on outplacement fees for displaced or redundant staff.
	
		
			  Spend on outplacement agency fees for displaced or redundant staff (£) 
			 June 2012 — 
			 July 2012 — 
			 August 2012 — 
			 September 2012 — 
			 October 2012 1,200 
			 November 2012 1,450 
			 December 2012 1,550 
			 January 2013 1,550 
			 February 2013 — 
			 March 2013 8,052 
			 April 2013 1,161 
			 May 2013 — 
			 Total 14,963 
		
	
	(c) From June 2012 to May 2013 DWP spent a total of £9,913,741 on staff training. For clarity, this does not include any travel and subsistence or salary costs of the DWP employees attending the training.
	
		
			  Spend on staff training (£) 
			 June 2012 268,890 
			 July 2012 259,924 
			 August 2012 445,356 
			 September 2012 585,372 
			 October 2012(1) 830,603 
			 November 2012 993,696 
			 December 2012 501,355 
			 January 2013 1,047,590 
			 February 2013 1,151,705 
			 March 2013 2,959,746 
			 April 2013 361,264 
			 May 2023 508,240 
			 Total 9,913,741 
			 (1 )From October 2012 DWP contributed towards the cross-government learning provider Civil Service Learning.

State Retirement Pensions: Wales

Guto Bebb: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of self-employed people in Wales that will benefit from the introduction of the single tier state pension in 2016;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the number of carers in Wales that will benefit from the introduction of the single tier state pension in 2016.

Steve Webb: It is estimated that around 20,000 people in Wales reaching state pension age in 2016-17 will be eligible for a single-tier pension.
	Geographical breakdowns of the impact of the single-tier reforms relative to the current state pension are not available.
	However, there were around 180,000 self-employed people in Wales in 2012. Those who are paying only Class 2 national insurance contributions are not currently credited towards the state second pension, but will be treated as having a full qualifying year under the single-tier pension valuation.

Vocational Training

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether unemployed people aged between 18 and 24 enrolled on the Government's traineeship programme will be eligible to claim jobseeker's allowance for the duration of their traineeship.

Mark Hoban: There is scope for providers to design a programme that meets the core aims and elements of traineeships but also fits with benefit rules. This would enable young people in receipt of jobseeker's allowance (or the new universal credit) to continue to receive financial support while taking part in a traineeship. Colleges and providers are encouraged to work with Jobcentre Plus when designing their programmes.
	Claimants will continue to be paid jobseeker's allowance/universal credit at their benefit rate, and be subject to all existing conditionality such as actively seeking and available for employment. They will also continue to attend regular face-to-face Jobcentre Plus adviser interviews for the duration of their traineeship.

Welfare State: Reform

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions with reference to the statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of 26 June 2013, Official Report, column 314, on the spending review, what process is in place to assess under-performing programmes.

Mark Hoban: The Department continually assesses, through robust and thorough evaluation, the performance of its programmes to ensure that the best possible value for money is achieved.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions under what circumstances a person who had been on the Work programme for two years without achieving a sustained job outcome and had been returned to Jobcentre Plus for support would be referred to the Work programme again; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: There are no current or planned future circumstances in which a Work programme completer who has not achieved a sustained outcome would be re-referred to the Work programme.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what targets he has set for Jobcentre Plus in supporting people who leave the Work programme without having achieved a sustained job outcome; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: Those returning from the Work programme without having achieved a job outcome will be among the hardest to help individuals. All these claimants will have support that is tailored to the needs of the individual, which will build on what they have experienced when on the Work programme, supported by our core regime. We expect advisers to work intensively with jobseeker's allowance claimants who need additional support, contacting and seeing them frequently.
	We do not have any targets set for this group. We do, however, use all available measures to understand the effectiveness of support we offer.

Work Programme

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate he has made of the number of people likely to return to jobcentres having completed two years on the Work programme without achieving a sustained job outcome in each of the next 12 months.

Mark Hoban: Projections of people expected to take up post-Work programme support would be based on data the Department plans to release as official statistics. We are therefore unable to provide estimates in response to this PQ without compromising the integrity of the statistical release.

Work Programme

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many people who were referred on to the Work programme in June 2011 have had (a) no job start and (b) no job outcome to date;
	(2)  how many people who have been in the Work programme for more than 12 months have had (a) no job start and (b) no job outcome to date.

Mark Hoban: Information on job starts from the Work programme is not available.
	Information about people on the Work programme and job outcomes can be found in the latest statistical summary available through the following link:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210226/work-programme-stats-summary-june-2013_v2_020713.pdf

EDUCATION

Adoption: North Yorkshire

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will make a statement on the pilot scheme for early adoption in North Yorkshire; if he will set out the criteria which have to be met before adoption within 28 days is permitted; and if he will confirm that each case will be judged on its merits and that the 28 days target will be ignored where circumstances demand.

Edward Timpson: I am not aware of a pilot scheme in North Yorkshire relating to early adoption but would happily receive information about it. The Department does not set adoption targets, but it expects local authorities to meet the timeliness thresholds set out in the adoption scorecards and the time scales set out in statutory guidance.
	I support local authorities' efforts to tackle delays in the adoption system so that children for whom adoption is appropriate can be placed with their adoptive families earlier than they currently are. The paramount consideration is the child's best interests and while local authorities should not aim for speed to the detriment of children, there is clear evidence that unnecessary delay is detrimental to children and must be tackled.

Free School Meals: Yorkshire and the Humber

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of children in (a) Haltemprice and Howden constituency and (b) the East Riding of Yorkshire were eligible for free school meals in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in each of the last 10 years.

David Laws: Information on the number and percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals in state-funded nursery and primary and state-funded secondary schools in Haltemprice and Howden constituency, East Riding of Yorkshire local authority and England for 2006 to 2013 is shown in the tables.
	Comparable data for earlier years are not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Information on the number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals as at January 2013 is published in the Statistical First Release ‘Schools, Pupils and their Characteristics, January 2013'(1).
	(1)Note:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-pupils-and-their-characteristics-january-2013
	
		
			 State-funded nursery and primary and state-funded secondary schools(1,2,3): number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(4,5), January each year: 2006 to 2013, England, East Riding of Yorkshire local authority and Haltemprice and Howden constituency 
			  State-funded nursery and primary schools(1,2) 
			  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 
			 England         
			 Number on roll(4,5) 3,899,445 3,860,420 3,837,680 3,825,475 3,838,680 3,873,175 3,947,650 4,045,835 
			 Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(4,5) 664,975 654,290 637,170 652,305 711,405 743,255 760,910 776,445 
			 Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals 17.1 16.9 16.6 17.1 18.5 19.2 19.3 19.2 
			          
			 East Riding of Yorkshire local authority         
			 Number on roll(4,5) 24,534 24,129 23,695 23,370 23,217 23,186 23,635 23,786 
			 Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(4,5) 2,141 2,073 1,847 2,015 2,414 2,776 2,782 2,779 
			 Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals 8.7 8.6 7.8 8.6 10.4 12.0 11.8 11.7 
			          
			 Haltemprice and Howden constituency         
			 Number on roll(4,5) 6,872 6,766 6,646 6,614 6,659 6,645 6,736 6,725 
			 Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(4,5) 339 327 301 328 396 459 474 422 
			 Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals 4.9 4.8 4.5 5.0 5.9 6.9 7.0 6.3 
		
	
	
		
			  State-funded secondary schools(1,3) 
			  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013(6) 
			 England         
			 Number on roll(4,5) 2,985,905 2,955,210 2,913,725 2,883,245 2,864,345 2,837,825 2,809,815 2,779,190 
			 Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(4,5) 439,125 425,110 413,365 417,970 441,145 450,275 449,485 452,600 
			 Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals 14.7 14.4 14.2 14.5 15.4 15.9 16.0 16.3 
			          
			 East Riding of Yorkshire local authority         
			 Number on roll(4,5) 20,467 20,306 19,882 19,650 19,411 19,213 18,779 18,406 
			 Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(4,5) 1,652 1,634 1,533 1,434 1,664 1,908 1,745 1,741 
		
	
	
		
			 Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals 8.1 8.0 7.7 7.3 8.6 9.9 9.3 9.5 
			          
			 Haltemprice and Howden constituency(6)         
			 Number on roll(4,5) 7,644 7,559 7,235 7,015 6,851 6,455 5,961 5,091 
			 Number of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals(4,5) 759 772 842 833 880 864 767 416 
			 Percentage of pupils known to be eligible for and claiming free school meals 9.9 10.2 11.6 11.9 12.8 13.4 12.9 8.2 
			 (1) Includes middle schools as deemed. (2) Includes all primary academies, including free schools. (3) Includes city technology colleges and all secondary academies, including free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools. (4) Includes pupils who are sole or dual main registrations. (5) Pupils who have full time attendance and are aged 15 or under, or pupils who have part time attendance and are aged between five and 15. (6) The Sir Henry Cooper school in this constituency closed in August 2012 and was replaced by Thomas Ferens Academy which is located in a neighbouring constituency. Note: National figures have been rounded to the nearest 5. Source: School Census

Health Education: Drugs

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what estimate he has made of the time schools dedicate to teaching students about the risks associated with (a) illegal drugs, (b) prescription drugs and (c) legal highs; and if he will make a statement.

Elizabeth Truss: The Department does not estimate the amount of teaching time schools dedicate to teaching about illegal or prescription drugs, or legal highs.
	All pupils should be educated about the dangers and effects of drugs, and drug education forms part of the national curriculum for science. This ensures that pupils are taught about the effects of drugs on behaviour, health and life processes. Provision in this area can be built on and extended through non-statutory personal, social and health education (PSHE), should schools choose to do so.
	Understanding the risks associated with drugs is an important part of young people's education. To support this we launched the Alcohol and Drug Education and Prevention Information Service (ADEPIS) on 13 April 2013, run by the charity Mentor UK, which provides high quality information and advice to practitioners, including teachers. The Department is also funding the Centre for Analysis of Youth Transitions (CAYT) up to March 2014. CAYT have set up an open-access data bank of quality assured impact studies on services and programmes that support the development of young people. The database will enable schools, commissioners and others to choose the best programmes with a strong evidence of impact.

Teachers: Qualifications

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what proportion of teachers in each local authority area were classified as unqualified in the latest period for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

David Laws: The following table provides a time series of the numbers of full-time equivalent teachers without qualified teacher status (QTS) working in publicly funded schools in England.
	
		
			 Thousand 
			  January November 
			  2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 
			 Maintained schools 18.6 17.9 16.7 16.8 16.4 15.6 11.9 9.5 
			 Academy schools 0.3 0.3 0.5 0.8 1.0 2.2 3.9 5.3 
			 Total in all publicly funded schools 18.8 18.2 17.2 17.5 17.4 17.8 15.8 14.8 
		
	
	
		
			 Percentage in all publicly funded schools 4.5 4.3 4.1 4.1 4.1 3.9 3.6 3.3 
			 Note: Figures are in thousands Source: School Workforce Statistical First Release 
		
	
	The changing balance between academies and maintained schools since 2010 reflects the increasing number of schools becoming academies.
	The number of teachers without QTS includes: trainees working towards QTS; overseas trained teachers who had not exceeded the four years they were allowed to teach without having QTS; and instructors with a particular skill who were employed when a suitable qualified teacher was not available.
	Since 1 September 2012, instructors can be employed permanently and there is no longer a requirement for school leaders to consider a qualified teacher first when they feel that an instructor would be better suited to the position.
	Since 27 July 2012, mainstream and alternate provision academies can employ teaching staff without the automatic requirement for them to have QTS. The funding agreements for all new academies states that they can employ teaching staff whom they deem suitably qualified whether or not they have QTS. Existing academies can request that their funding agreements be changed to include the same freedom if they wish. Free schools already had the flexibility to employ suitably qualified professionals who do not already possess QTS.
	The following table shows the percentage of teachers in service that did not have QTS, by local authority. The latest available information is from the November 2011 School Workforce Census (figures for January 2009 and November 2010 are presented for comparison purposes). Statistics for each local authority based on the November 2012 School Workforce Census will be published on 17 July.
	
		
			 Proportion of the full-time equivalent number of teachers in service without qualified teacher status in publicly funded schools. 
			  January 2009 November 2010 November 2011 
			 England 3.9 3.9 3.6 
			     
			 North East    
			 Gateshead 0.7 1.1 1.4 
			 Newcastle upon Tyne 1.8 1.6 2.2 
			 North Tyneside 1.1 1.4 1.3 
			 South Tyneside 0.9 0.5 1.4 
			 Sunderland 2.9 1.8 1.2 
			 Hartlepool 3.5 5.0 6.2 
			 Middlesbrough 3.2 2.8 3.4 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 2.7 3.8 4.1 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 2.4 3.3 3.6 
			 County Durham 2.0 2.5 2.5 
			 Darlington 3.2 1.4 2.6 
			 Northumberland 1.5 1.1 1.4 
			     
			 North West    
			 Cumbria 1.5 2.0 1.5 
			 Cheshire East (1)— 1.8 1.6 
			 Cheshire West and Chester (1)— 1.0 1.5 
			 Halton 1.4 1.1 0.9 
			 Warrington 1.9 1.5 1.4 
			 Bolton 2.8 1.8 2.0 
			 Bury 1.1 (2)— 4.9 
			 Manchester 3.8 3.0 1.9 
			 Oldham 2.8 3.1 2.3 
			 Rochdale 1.8 2.9 1.4 
			 Salford 3.5 (2)— (2)— 
			 Stockport 0.8 2.3 1.2 
			 Tameside 1.3 2.6 2.1 
			 Trafford 2.1 4.4 5.7 
			 Wigan 0.7 1.6 1.3 
			 Lancashire 1.4 1.7 1.6 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 5.0 2.5 2.8 
			 Blackpool 0.9 0.9 1.2 
			 Knowsley 2.3 1.2 1.1 
			 Liverpool 1.4 1.4 1.4 
			 St. Helens 1.2 0.3 0.7 
			 Sefton 1.8 1.7 1.1 
			 Wirral 1.3 1.1 0.8 
			     
			 Yorkshire and the Humber    
			 Kingston upon Hull, City of 7.9 (2)— 5.8 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 2.2 3.0 3.5 
			 North East Lincolnshire 3.6 (2)— 7.5 
			 North Lincolnshire 4.9 4.7 6.1 
			 North Yorkshire 2.3 0.3 4.2 
			 York 1.1 6.0 7.3 
			 Barnsley 2.3 2.9 2.6 
			 Doncaster 3.2 2.1 2.5 
			 Rotherham 2.7 2.2 2.4 
			 Sheffield 4.5 2.5 2.4 
			 Bradford 1.1 2.2 2.7 
			 Calderdale 0.4 2.0 1.8 
			 Kirklees 1.6 2.1 2.0 
			 Leeds 2.2 2.4 3.1 
			 Wakefield 3.1 2.2 2.5 
			     
			 East Midlands    
			 Derbyshire 1.3 1.6 2.0 
			 Derby 3.1 3.0 3.5 
			 Leicestershire 3.5 3.8 3.1 
			 Leicester 4.8 4.7 3.4 
			 Rutland 4.1 4.1 3.6 
		
	
	
		
			 Lincolnshire 6.7 6.1 5.1 
			 Northamptonshire 4.3 4.3 4.5 
			 Nottinghamshire 2.3 2.8 2.9 
			 Nottingham 5.3 4.8 6.4 
			     
			 West Midlands    
			 Herefordshire, County of 2.4 3.8 4.5 
			 Worcestershire 1.7 1.1 2.0 
			 Shropshire 2.2 1.3 0.7 
			 Telford and Wrekin 3.3 (2)— (2)— 
			 Staffordshire 3.2 3.2 2.0 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 3.4 5.1 5.1 
			 Warwickshire 2.5 3.3 2.1 
			 Birmingham 6.0 3.4 2.5 
			 Coventry 3.5 8.4 5.2 
			 Dudley 2.6 1.8 0.7 
			 Sandwell 1.8 4.7 4.0 
			 Solihull 3.8 4.3 4.4 
			 Walsall 3.6 2.5 3.1 
			 Wolverhampton 3.9 4.4 4.6 
			     
			 East of England    
			 Cambridgeshire 5.8 3.7 3.5 
			 Peterborough 6.6 5.6 5.5 
			 Norfolk 5.5 3.1 3.3 
			 Suffolk 1.2 4.3 3.9 
			 Bedford (1)— 6.4 5.5 
			 Central Bedfordshire (1)— 4.4 4.5 
			 Luton 7.7 6.6 6.2 
			 Essex 3.8 5.0 4.4 
			 Southend-on-Sea 13.1 10.4 13.8 
			 Thurrock 9.9 8.0 7.5 
			 Hertfordshire 7.2 5.0 4.0 
			     
			 Inner London    
			 City of London 5.6 7.1 6.4 
			 Camden 6.1 7.5 6.5 
			 Hackney 8.7 8.8 6.6 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 7.2 7.3 5.7 
			 Islington 6.1 5.3 4.0 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 9.8 10.6 6.7 
			 Lambeth 5.7 5.7 5.5 
			 Lewisham 6.2 5.5 4.7 
			 Southwark 9.9 6.3 8.7 
			 Tower Hamlets 7.3 5.9 5.0 
			 Wandsworth 7.3 5.1 4.8 
			 Westminster 10.2 11.0 9.8 
			 Haringey 7.0 6.3 5.5 
			 Newham 3.5 4.6 4.5 
			     
			 Outer London    
			 Greenwich 8.1 7.7 6.9 
			 Barking and Dagenham 8.7 5.1 5.2 
			 Barnet 10.1 8.9 7.6 
			 Bexley 4.7 3.5 3.4 
			 Brent 7.3 7.3 5.0 
			 Bromley 5.3 4.2 3.3 
		
	
	
		
			 Croydon 6.7 8.2 6.5 
			 Ealing 7.2 5.4 5.2 
			 Enfield 5.6 3.5 4.2 
			 Harrow 6.5 5.2 4.3 
			 Havering 6.6 6.8 5.7 
			 Hillingdon 6.7 5.4 5.1 
			 Hounslow 7.1 4.7 4.1 
			 Kingston upon Thames 3.8 4.8 4.2 
			 Merton 5.5 4.9 5.3 
			 Redbridge 8.1 6.2 6.0 
			 Richmond upon Thames 3.5 2.5 4.0 
			 Sutton 3.9 2.7 3.5 
			 Waltham Forest 7.2 5.5 4.8 
			     
			 South East    
			 Bracknell Forest 4.5 3.9 3.2 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 5.3 5.7 8.7 
			 West Berkshire 4.0 4.7 3.3 
			 Reading 5.2 4.2 4.1 
			 Slough 9.1 9.8 9.2 
			 Wokingham 1.8 3.2 3.6 
			 Buckinghamshire 5.1 4.8 4.2 
			 Milton Keynes 5.4 5.0 4.0 
			 East Sussex 3.7 3.9 4.0 
			 Brighton and Hove 2.8 2.3 2.2 
			 Hampshire 3.4 1.1 1.0 
			 Portsmouth 4.0 3.1 3.8 
			 Southampton 3.7 2.0 2.6 
			 Isle of Wight 5.9 7.0 5.3 
			 Kent 7.3 6.3 6.5 
			 Medway 4.7 4.2 5.0 
			 Oxfordshire 3.9 2.9 3.2 
			 Surrey 3.7 3.1 3.1 
			 West Sussex 1.7 1.9 1.8 
			     
			 South West    
			 Isles of Scilly 2.7 6.2 9.7 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 1.2 1.1 1.0 
			 Bristol, City of 2.5 1.7 2.2 
			 North Somerset 0.6 1.0 1.1 
			 South Gloucestershire 1.5 1.6 1.7 
			 Cornwall 4.1 2.5 2.9 
			 Devon 1.7 1.3 1.1 
			 Plymouth 2.0 2.8 2.4 
			 Torbay 1.9 2.5 2.5 
			 Dorset 3.2 3.2 1.9 
			 Poole 2.2 1.9 2.6 
			 Bournemouth 4.7 3.9 3.4 
			 Gloucestershire 1.6 2.4 1.8 
			 Somerset 1.7 2.1 1.9 
			 Wiltshire 1.7 3.2 2.6 
			 Swindon 4.6 2.8 3.9 
			 (1) Not applicable (2 )Not available Source: Form 618g and School Census, (January 2009) and School Workforce Census November 2010 and 2011

JUSTICE

Apprentices

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many apprentices are currently employed by his Department; and how many are aged (a) under 19, (b) 19 to 25, (c) 26 to 30, (d) 31 to 59 and (e) 60 and over.

Helen Grant: The Ministry of Justice is committed to improving the quality of and access to apprenticeships.
	From 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2013, the Department offered a total of 2,587 apprenticeship qualifications to the existing work force. The breakdown between years in shown in the table.
	
		
			  Staff taking apprenticeship qualifications 
			 2008-09 321 
			 2009-10 412 
			 2010-11 503 
			 2011-12 682 
			 2012-13 669 
			 Total 2,587 
		
	
	Information on the age range is only available in a limited form for the staff taking apprenticeship qualifications in 2012-13. This is set out in the table.
	
		
			 Age-range Staff taking apprenticeship qualifications 
			 Under 19 0 
			 19-23 27 
			 24 and over 633 
			 Not known 9 
			 Total 669 
		
	
	To provide the full information requested would require analysing the staff records for the members of staff concerned and would incur disproportionate costs to obtain.
	In addition, my Department currently employs one externally recruited apprentice. For data protection reasons, I am not able to give any age information of this member of staff. As part of the new civil service fast-track apprenticeship scheme, the Department has identified 11 apprenticeship vacancies to be filled in September 2013.

Billing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment his Department has made of the savings it could achieve by paying its suppliers early in return for rebates.

Helen Grant: The Department has made no such assessments as it already pays all suppliers immediately once they have been approved. This is in line with the prompt payment guidance targets for all central Government Departments to aim to pay 80% of all undisputed invoices within five days.

Buildings

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the total running costs were for each building used, owned or rented in central London by his Department, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, except for prisons and buildings used primarily for judicial purposes, in each of the last three financial years.

Helen Grant: The table shows the running costs (excluding depreciation) in each of the last three financial years for the Ministry of Justice's central London estate (SE1, SW1, W1, WC1 and WC2). The table excludes prisons, prison officers' quarters and buildings used primarily for judicial purposes.
	
		
			 Running costs 
			 £ million 
			 Property/holding 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Units 4 and 5 Mitre House 1.69 1.95 1.59 
			 102 Petty France 36.40 35.35 34.02 
			 Clive House 4.00 6.49 6.66 
			 Steel House 3.49 3.65 3.85 
			 Ashley House 0.07 1.38 1.43 
			 Grenadier House 0.18 3.58 2.90 
			 Millbank (5th floor) 0.96 0.96 0.85 
			 Chancery Lane 3.32 3.29 3.35 
			 151 Buckingham Palace Road 1.05 2.36 2.51 
			 Carlton Gardens (Privy Council) 0.37 0.40 0.18 
			 2 Marsham Street(1) 5.60 3.00 0 
			 Great Peter Street(1) 2.35 0.50 0 
			 Drummond Gate(1) 2.32 2.32 0.97 
			 Abbey Orchard Street(1) 1.89 1.89 0 
			 22 Kingsway(1) 1.20 1.20 0.48 
			 Abel House(1) 2.37 (2)-0.47 0 
			 Cleland House(1) 1.99 (2)-0.43 0 
			 (1 )No longer used by MOJ. (2 )Predominantly tax rebates. Note: Territorial Offices (Wales Office and Scotland Office) are excluded. Data are taken from a variety of accounting systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the detail is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system. 
		
	
	The Ministry of Justice is committed to reducing the cost of its administrative estate. By 2014-15 we will have reduced our total administrative property holdings from 185 to 94 including 16 to two in central London. From 2015-16 onwards these reductions will save the Department £47 million per year in resource costs.

Contempt of Court

Edward Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when the provisions in the Crime and Courts Act 2013 abolishing scandalising the judiciary as a form of contempt of court will come into force.

Helen Grant: Section 33 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 abolished scandalising the judiciary as a form of contempt of court and under section 61(6) was to come into force at the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which the Act was passed. The Act received Royal Assent on 25 April 2013 and hence scandalising the judiciary was abolished on 25 June 2013.

Crime: Victims

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 24 June 2013, Official Report, column 25W, on victims' support schemes, how many persistently targeted victims have been identified by his Department in each of the last five years.

Helen Grant: The Ministry of Justice does not record or hold this information. In responding to last year's consultation ‘Getting It Right for Victims and Witnesses', we identified persistently targeted victims as being one of three groups of victims who can suffer the greatest impact of crime. We know that crime, even when seemingly less serious, can have a devastating impact on victims when committed again and again over a period of time, particularly where a person is deliberately targeted. That is why persistently targeted victims are one of three groups of victims eligible for enhanced services from criminal justice agencies and service providers.

Criminal Proceedings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to the answer of 24 April 2013, Official Report, columns 928-9W, on criminal proceedings, what the average mean number of days from offence to completion was (a) in each region and (b) in total for (i) magistrates and (ii) Crown courts in England and Wales in (A) 2011-12 and (B) 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Grant: In November last year, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Chris Grayling), announced as one of his priorities a real drive for a criminal justice and court system that works effectively and puts victims first. Work is under way to increase both the effectiveness and efficiency of the criminal justice system. It will look at the whole of the system to drive performance and tackle some of the perennial weaknesses so it is quicker, less erratic and more efficient.
	Table 1 presents the average (mean) number of days taken from offence to completion, broken down by region and court type for 2012-13. The time taken from offence to completion is affected by factors such as the complexity of the case and the time taken to report the crime following the incident.
	
		
			 Table 1: Average number of days from offence to completion for all criminal cases completed in the magistrates courts and the Crown court, by region, England and Wales, 2012-13(1,2,3) 
			  Average number of days from offence to completion 
			 Region Magistrates courts(4) Crown Court(5) All completed criminal cases 
			 London 160 321 171 
			 Midlands 151 310 161 
			 North East 137 287 147 
			 North West 141 303 152 
			 South East 148 318 158 
			 South West 142 338 154 
			 Wales 159 281 166 
			 England and Wales 148 310 158 
			 (1) Excludes breaches and cases with an offence to completion time greater than 10 years. (2) Statistics are sourced from the CREST linked court data and included around 95% of completed cases. (3) Only one offence is counted for each defendant in the case. If two or more cases complete on the same day, the case with the longest duration is included. (4) Included cases completed in the magistrates courts during the specified time period, where no further action is required by the magistrates courts, excluding committals. (5) Included all criminal cases which have received a verdict and concluded in the specified time period, in the Crown Court. Data source: Libra Management Information System Timeliness Analysis Report (TAR) and CREST linked court data, HM Courts and Tribunals Service Source: Criminal Courts Statistics, Justice Statistics Analytical Services, Ministry of Justice 
		
	
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer provided on 24 April 2013, Official Report, columns 928-29W, regarding information requested for 2011-12.
	http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm130424/text/130424w0001.htm

European Convention on Human Rights

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice when the Government plan to (a) sign and (b) ratify Protocol No. 15 amending the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

Damian Green: The United Kingdom's Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe signed Protocol 15 on behalf of the UK when it was opened for signature on 24 June. In accordance with Part 2 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, I shall lay Protocol 15 before Parliament after the summer, with a view to completing its ratification this autumn.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimates he has made of the additional costs to his Department as a result of the construction of High Speed 2.

Helen Grant: The Department has made no estimates of the additional costs as a result of the construction of High Speed 2 as no additional costs are expected at this stage.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service

David Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the expected budget for HM Courts and Tribunals Service is for the next three years.

Helen Grant: The HM Courts and Tribunals Service gross budget for 2013-14 is £1,547.9 million with forecast income of £565 million, providing a net budget of £982.9 million.
	Budgets after 2013-14 will be set in the context of the overall financial settlement for the Ministry of Justice, future workloads and saving plans.

Homicide

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he has taken to ensure that people bereaved by a homicide are not at risk of losing their job during the course of a trial.

Helen Grant: The National Homicide Service funded by the Ministry of Justice, and launched in 2010, has specially trained staff who help families cope with the trauma of the murder or manslaughter of a loved one. This includes helping them inform employers about their situation and accessing legal advice. It then remains for employers to decide, taking into account someone's contract of employment and any relevant legal requirements, the position they take in respect of employees who find themselves needing to take time off work when bereaved by homicide.

Immigrants: Detainees

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases of alleged unlawful immigration detention have been heard in courts in England and Wales in each of the last five years; and of those cases, how many were (a) found in favour of the plaintiff, (b) found in favour of the defendant, (c) withdrawn and (d) settled out of court.

Helen Grant: Information relating to alleged unlawful immigration detention is not held on the Administrative Court Office database in a searchable statistical format. The case files over the five-year period (40,000 case files) would have to be viewed individually to provide the specific information requested and therefore the information cannot be provided without incurring disproportionate cost.

Immigrants: Detainees

Sarah Teather: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice in how many cases of alleged unlawful immigration detention that were heard in courts in England and Wales in each of the last five years the plaintiff was in receipt of civil legal aid.

Jeremy Wright: The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) does not hold the information requested. Cases of unlawful immigration detention cannot all be distinguished in the LAA's systems from those relating to wider unlawful detention.

Judges: Veterans

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many judges have served in the armed forces.

Helen Grant: I am unable to provide this information. While there are members of the judiciary who have served in the military, this information is not recorded, and Judicial Office are unable to provide any details.

Landlord and Tenant

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many applications to prevent a landlord from recovering costs of litigation through future service charges were made to the courts under the provisions of section 20C of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and how many such applications were successful.

Helen Grant: Applications made under section 20C of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 can be made to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) jurisdiction where there are proceedings before the LVT or the Residential Property Tribunal. Such applications therefore form part of wider proceedings and the LVT does not identify and record separately the number of applications it receives under section 20C of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. It is also not possible to provide the outcomes for these types of case as the outcome of individual applications including those under section 20C are not analysed and recorded separately.
	The information is held on individual files and attempting to interrogate each file manually and collate the information requested would incur disproportionate cost.
	LVT decisions are published online and can be found at:
	www.residential-property.judiciary.gov.uk/search/decision_search.jsp
	Where applications under section 20C of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 are made to the county court, rather than the LVT, they are submitted using the General Application Notice, which is not recorded against individual case types. It is not therefore possible to determine how many section 20C applications have been successfully made in any given year without a manual case count, which would incur disproportionate cost.

Legal Aid Scheme: Wales

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many legal firms in the Dyfed-Powys area are permitted to take on legal aid cases.

Jeremy Wright: The Legal Aid Agency and its predecessor the Legal Services Commission (pre 1 April 2013) records information relating to firms by legal aid procurement area, which is broadly based on local authority boundaries. In the Criminal Justice Service area of Dyfed Powys there are currently 38 firms with an active civil or crime legal aid contract.

Legal Aid Scheme: Wales

Albert Owen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much was paid in criminal legal aid costs to solicitors' firms in (a) Ynys Môn and (b) North Wales in each of the last three years for which records are available.

Jeremy Wright: The Legal Aid Agency and its predecessor the Legal Services Commission (pre 1 April 2013) records costs relating to firms by legal aid procurement area, which is broadly based on local authority boundaries. We have provided this information as a reasonable proxy for constituency boundaries in relation to the Anglesey local authority and the North Wales region.
	
		
			 Criminal legal aid costs 
			 £ million 
			 North Wales: 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Anglesey 0.54 0.58 0.51 
			 Others 6.20 6.61 5.93 
			 Total 6.74 7.18 6.44 
		
	
	Please note that:
	The costs include VAT and disbursements such as expenses, third party costs, and costs paid by Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Services (HMCTS) on crown court cases.
	The information does not include costs paid by the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court, House of Lords, and Senior Court Costs Office. Solicitor advocates are treated as Barristers and costs paid to them are not included as part of the firm.

Legal Aid Scheme: Wales

Albert Owen: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many firms received criminal legal aid payments in (a) Ynys Môn and (b) North Wales in each of the last three years for which records are available.

Jeremy Wright: The Legal Aid Agency and its predecessor the Legal Services Commission (pre 1 April 2013) records costs relating to firms by legal aid procurement area, which is broadly based on local authority boundaries. We have provided this information as a reasonable proxy for constituency boundaries in relation to the Anglesey local authority and the North Wales region.
	
		
			 Criminal legal aid firms 
			 North Wales: 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 
			 Anglesey 3 3 2 
			 Others 26 27 27 
			 Total 29 30 29 
		
	
	Please also note that solicitor advocates are treated as barristers and not included as part of the firm.

Press: Subscriptions

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on newspapers, periodicals and trade publications in the last 12 months.

Helen Grant: The Ministry of Justice's Library and Information Service purchases publications for the Judiciary, Courts, Tribunals, and for the Ministry of Justice and Royal Courts of Justice libraries. The Press Office also buys publications. (There is no central record of any subscriptions held by other business units.) The same account codes are used for the purchase of books as well as the types of publications requested and it would incur disproportionate costs to tease these out separately.

Prisoners: Death

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the cost of legal representation of the Government at inquests into all cases where the state is represented in deaths in custody in each of the last three years; and how much his Department spent on legal aid for families of the deceased in such cases during the same time period.

Jeremy Wright: The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) does not hold details of the annual cost to the whole of Government of legal representation at inquests. Each Department makes their own arrangements.
	The MOJ specifically incurs legal costs at inquests following the deaths of serving prisoners. The Treasury Solicitor's Department charges the MOJ for legal advice and representation at inquests. These charges came to £2.7 million in 2009-10; £2.1 million in 2010-11 and £2.1 million in 2011-12. The figures for 2012-13 are not yet published. It is not possible to attribute these charges to completed inquests.
	Under the Access to Justice Act 1999, the Lord Chancellor has the power, on request from the Legal Services Commission, to grant exceptional legal aid funding in cases where civil legal aid was not generally available. For death in custody inquests, he delegated this power to the Legal Services Commission. The total amount spent on exceptional funding was £1.1 million in 2007-08; £1.5 million in 2008-09; and £1.6 million in 2009-10. While most of the applications for exceptional funding are for inquests, it is not possible to disaggregate the expenditure on inquests from the total amount spent on exceptional funding.
	I regret that it is not possible to identify separately the amount spent on legal aid for families of the deceased at inquests.

Termination of Employment

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions (a) a compromise agreement, (b) a confidentiality clause and (c) judicial mediation was used when an employee of (i) his Department and (ii) the public bodies for which he is responsible left their employment in (A) 2010-11, (B) 2011-12 and (C) 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Grant: The information requested is not centrally held by the Ministry of Justice.
	It would require a Ministry wide exercise to collect the information from the Department and its associated public bodies. This would incur disproportionate costs.

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Church Closures

Rehman Chishti: To ask the honourable Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the Church Commissioners are taking to keep churches that are faced with closure open for worship and for the community.

Tony Baldry: I refer my hon. friend to the answer I gave in writing on 24 June 2013.
	I would also like to add to that answer—since 2007 the Church of England has opened an average of 10 new churches every year. There are also an increasing number of ‘fresh expressions’ churches being set up in other buildings and public spaces, such as pubs, skate parks, community centres, etc. which are not covered by the figures above.

Religious Buildings: Fees and Charges

Matthew Offord: To ask the hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners, what recent assessment the Church Commissioners have made of the cost to visitors of accessing religious buildings.

Tony Baldry: Of the 42 Diocese in England (excluding Sodor and Man and Europe) only nine cathedrals charge an entry fee. Chester Cathedral has just abolished all entry charges. Unlike the national museums none of the Church of England’s cathedral or church buildings receive grant in aid from the Government.
	All cathedrals which charge for entry give free access to those attending services (of which there are a number every day of the week) and to those who arrive on pilgrimage or wish to pray, some give free entry on Sundays and at other times, generally early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and others give free entry to local residents or church attenders in their Dioceses.
	Only two of the great parish churches charge entry fees or a modest charge to enter part of the church. They are St Bartholomew’s the Great in London Diocese and Holy Trinity Church, Stratford upon Avon in Coventry diocese, the resting place of William Shakespeare.
	Both the churches and cathedrals resort to charging primarily to recover the cost of repairing the fabric of the building due to the large volume of tourist visitors they receive.
	The English Cathedrals and Royal Peculiars that currently charge for entry as of June 2013 are:
	Canterbury
	Coventry
	Ely
	Exeter
	Lincoln
	Christ Church, Oxford (to enter college)
	St George’s Chapel, Windsor (to enter castle)(1)
	St Paul’s
	Westminster Abbey(1)
	Winchester
	York Minster
	(1) Royal Peculiar

CABINET OFFICE

Graduates: Unemployment

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the number of unemployed university graduates in (a) Barnsley, (b) Barnsley Central constituency, (c) South Yorkshire and (d) England.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	Letter from Glen Watson, dated July 2013
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he has made of the number of unemployed university graduates in (a) Barnsley, (b) Barnsley Central constituency, (c) South Yorkshire and (d) England. (163311)
	The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles unemployment statistics for local areas from the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions.
	Whilst the APS does collect data on graduate unemployment, no reliable statistics can be produced for Barnsley Central constituency or Barnsley due to small sample sizes.
	The latest APS estimates available for graduate unemployment are from interviews held during the period January to December 2012. Based on this survey, the number to the nearest thousand, of unemployed people whose highest qualification was degree level or higher in South Yorkshire was 50,000 and in England was 343,000.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Higher Education: South Yorkshire

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people in (a) Barnsley Central constituency, (b) Barnsley metropolitan borough council area and (c) South Yorkshire went to university in academic year (i) 2010-11, (ii) 2011-12 and (iii) 2012-13.

David Willetts: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
	The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes data on students at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The numbers of entrants to UK HEIs who were domiciled in Barnsley Central constituency, Barnsley local authority and South Yorkshire prior to their course have been provided in the table for the academic years 2010/11 and 2011/12.
	Information for the 2012/13 academic year will become available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency in January 2014.
	
		
			 Entrants(1) to UK HEIs domiciled in Barnsley Central constituency, Barnsley local authority and South Yorkshire(2) prior to their course. Academic years 2010/11 to 2011/12 
			  2010/11 2011/12 
			 Barnsley Central constituency 965 925 
			 Barnsley local authority 2,465 2,275 
			 South Yorkshire 15,655 14,990 
			 (1) Covers all students in their first year of study. (2) A student's parliamentary constituency, local authority and area are derived from their home postcode. The boundaries were revised in the 2010 general election. Note: Figures are based on a HESA standard registration population and have been rounded to the nearest five. Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Record.

Press: Subscriptions

Mike Freer: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much his Department spent on newspapers, periodicals and trade publications in the last 12 months.

Francis Maude: The Cabinet Office spent £31,249 with our main supplier of newspapers and periodicals in the 2012-13 financial year. This is an increase on the previous year as a result of the inclusion, from April 2012, of services which had previously been part of Central Office of Information.
	Because management units are free to make their own arrangements for the provision of newspapers, periodicals and trade publications no records are kept centrally of total costs.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

British Overseas Territories

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the extent of (a) Crown land and (b) private land in each of the 14 British Overseas Territories is by (i) area and (ii) percentage of total land area.

Mark Simmonds: Policy on land registration in each of the Overseas Territories is a matter of devolved responsibility for their government. We do not hold a central record of the information requested except for the British Indian Ocean Territory and the British Antarctic Territory. We have limited information in respect of Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) where the British Government were in direct control from 2009 to 2012.
	In the case of the British Indian Ocean Territory, all land is Crown land with none held privately, with a total area of 60 square kilometres being 100% of the total land area.
	In the case of the British Antarctic Territory the entire terrestrial area is Crown land, more than 1.7 million square kilometres, but our territorial claim is held in abeyance by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959.
	At the time of the elections in TCI in November 2012, approximately 68% of land was registered to the Crown. Some 3,000 acres of land has been returned to the Crown since 2009.

British Overseas Territories

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many marine protected areas have been designated in each of the 14 British Overseas Territories for biodiversity conservation purposes; and what the extent of each such area is.

Mark Simmonds: The designation of marine protected areas (MPAs) is a matter of devolved responsibility. We do not hold a central record of the information requested except for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI), British Antarctic Territory (BAT), British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and the Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs).
	In 2012 the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) declared a sustainable-use MPA of one million square kilometres in size (equivalent to four times the terrestrial area of the United Kingdom), including over 20,000 square kilometres of no-fishing zones.
	Prior to ratifying the Antarctic Treaty, 1959, which places Antarctic sovereignty issues in abeyance, the UK had only declared a three-mile territorial sea around the British Antarctic Territory (BAT). However, in 2009, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources agreed a marine protected area of 94,000 square kilometres on the Southern Shelf of the South Orkney Islands. In addition, a number of Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs), designated under the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, comprise marine areas around the BAT. Details of designated ASPAs can be found at:
	http://www.ats.aq/e/ep_protected.htm
	The British Indian Ocean Territory declared a no-take MPA in 2009 across its maritime zone of 640,000 square kilometres.
	There are no MPAs around the Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs).

British Overseas Territories

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of land area is legally designated as a protected area for biodiversity conservation purposes in each of the 14 British Overseas Territories.

Mark Simmonds: Territory Governments are responsible for the protection and conservation of their natural environments. We do not hold a central record of the information requested, except for the uninhabited Overseas Territories of British Antarctic Territory (BAT), British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI), and the Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs).
	The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty provides for the comprehensive protection of the Antarctic environment and designates Antarctica as a natural reserve, devoted to peace and science. Under the protocol, over 30 areas of the British Antarctic Territory have, to date, been designated as Antarctic Specially Protected Areas. A further four areas have been designated as larger-scale Antarctic Specially Managed Areas. The vast majority of these designations include reasons specifically relating to biodiversity conservation. A full list is available online at:
	http://www.ats.aq/e/ep_protected.htm
	The British Indian Ocean Territory's 55 islands have a total land area of only 60 sq km, within which Diego Garcia accounts for half the area. Of the other islands, none of which are larger than Hyde Park, seven are fully protected whilst the islands of Diego Garcia have part protection. In addition, the Eastern Islands in Peros Banhos are designated nature reserves.
	Within the Sovereign Base Areas (which are administered by the Ministry of Defence), the proportion of land legally designated as protected areas for conservation purposes is: Special Protected Areas—0.52% (4,819 hectares); Ramsar (Convention on Wetlands of International Importance)—0.23% (2,171 hectares); and Special Areas of Conservation—3.10% (28,701 hectares).
	In respect of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, the Wildlife and Protected Areas Ordinance 2011 affords an extremely high level of protection to terrestrial habitats and flora and fauna throughout South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are developing plans for Specially Protected Areas, which can be designated under the Wildlife and Protected Areas Ordinance, and will undertake stakeholder consultation on those plans in due course.

Canada

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what work the British High Commission in Ottawa is doing to support UK industry in the Canadian oil sands.

Alistair Burt: The British high commission in Ottawa, along with our network of posts in Canada, help to develop UK commercial opportunities in the Canadian oil and gas sector. This is done by helping to better educate the UK supply chain industry of the opportunities that exist in the sector, assisting UK companies in finding Canadian partners and overcoming any barriers to trade. We also highlight the strength of UK expertise to the Canadian oil and gas industry. Since 2008 12 UK companies have opened offices in Alberta, and are supplying goods and services to the oil sands industry including in recruitment, cabling, waste recovery, software, imaging and project management. We also maintain close and regular dialogue with major UK investors in the Canadian oil and gas sector, including BP, Shell and Amec.

Eritrea

Graham Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he last discussed the persecution of Christians in Eritrea with (a) the government of Eritrea, (b) the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and (c) United Nations human rights bodies.

Mark Simmonds: We raise human rights issues, including the persecution of Christians, with the Government of Eritrea at every opportunity and work closely with our partners to coordinate on these issues.
	In June 2013 our ambassador in Asmara raised the persecution of Christians with senior representatives of the Eritrean Government.
	We work closely with the EU on Eritrea. In December last year, our ambassador alongside EU colleagues called on the Eritrean Government to release all prisoners held for their religious beliefs as part of the Article 8 dialogue.
	In June 2013 we expressed our concern about freedom of expression and opinion in Eritrea at the UN Human Rights Council.

Serco

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Serco; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) does not have any ongoing contracts with Serco Ltd. Spend analysis shows that there has been some minor spend, totalling £22,076 during the period April 2011 to June 2013 inclusive; this is displayed in Table 1. Spend prior to April 2011 could be analysed only at disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Table 1—FCO spend with Serco Ltd 
			  Spend (£) 
			 2011-12 8,350 
			 2012-13 13,726 
			 2013 (YTD) 0 
			 Total 22,076 
		
	
	Information for our overseas posts is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many terrestrial protected areas have been legally designated in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands for nature conservation purposes; and what the extent of each such area is.

Mark Simmonds: The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are developing plans for Specially Protected Areas, which can be designated under the Wildlife and Protected Areas Ordinance. The Wildlife and Protected Areas Ordinance 2011 affords an extremely high level of protection to terrestrial habitats and flora and fauna throughout South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Government will undertake a consultation on these plans in due course.

South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what assessment he has made of the biodiversity conservation impact of the biosecurity policy breaches which occurred in 2013 in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Mark Simmonds: The Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (GSGSSI) were only recently made aware of the biosecurity policy breaches which occurred in March 2013 and are still in the process of establishing the full facts surrounding the situation. Nevertheless, they have advised the UK Government that the breaches were contained in a small area and detected within a few days of occurring, at which point appropriate mitigation action was taken, for example, incineration of prohibited items. An initial assessment by GSGSSI concluded that it is unlikely that either of these breaches will have resulted in any adverse impacts.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the area of Crown land in the Turks and Caicos Islands was in each of the last 10 years.

Mark Simmonds: A definitive list of land parcels owned by the Crown in the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) for each of the last 10 years is not available. Records maintained by previous TCI Governments (who had devolved responsibility for Crown Land) do not contain this information.
	Since December 2009, as part of a wider land administration reform programme under the Interim Administration, work began to generate a definitive listing of land parcels owned by the Crown and registered at the TCI Land Registry. However, as the listing is live and regularly updated, historical versions are not kept. Moreover, areas of Crown land without registers of title, such as foreshore, are not included in the listing. Since the election in November 2012, this work continues under the TCI Government.
	In November 2012 there were approximately 6,117 registered parcels of Crown land totalling 87,342 acres, approximately 68% of the registered land extent recorded on the listing. It should be noted that some parcels of Crown land could be subject to leasehold interests, and that a significant proportion of Crown land also falls within the Protected Areas Scheme of the National Parks Ordinance and its use is therefore restricted by that statute.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Serco

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities how much the Government Equalities Office currently spends on contracts with Serco; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Maria Miller: The Government Equalities Office has never held a contract with Serco.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Derelict Land

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the factors which affect the deliverability and viability of previously developed land for redevelopment.

Nicholas Boles: The Department has not commissioned or evaluated any work on the factors affecting the deliverability and viability of previously developed land.

Disciplinary Proceedings

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many staff were suspended from his Department and its associated public bodies on full pay in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and what costs were incurred as a result of such suspensions.

Brandon Lewis: The number of staff in the Department for Communities and Local Government who were suspended on full pay in financial years (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13, and the costs incurred as a result of the suspensions, is set out in the following table. I have also included figures for the current financial year.
	
		
			 Financial year Number of staff suspended on full pay Cost incurred(1) (£) 
			 2010-11 1 4,933 
			 2011-12 2 21,116 
			 2012-13 1 35,338 
			 2013-14 1 2,137 
			 Total — 63,524 
			 (1 )Gross. 
		
	
	We do not hold a central record of staff suspended from the Department's associated public bodies. To obtain this information would be possible only at a disproportionate cost.
	Staff suspected of serious or gross misconduct can be suspended on full pay pending the investigation and conclusion of the case. This is rare but is done where there is a risk an individual might destroy or tamper with evidence, influence others, continue the suspected inappropriate behaviour or where they can no longer undertake their duties until the case is determined, for example where security clearance has been revoked.

Empty Property

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the number of unoccupied residential properties in (a) Brigg and Goole constituency, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) the UK.

Don Foster: Annual statistics on total numbers of vacant dwellings and those vacant longer than six months in each local authority district in England are published in the Department's live table 615, which is available at the following link.
	https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants
	Data for Brigg and Goole constituency are not collected centrally. The constituency falls within the local authorities of North Lincolnshire and East Riding of Yorkshire.
	As set out in the written ministerial statement on 18 September 2012, Official Report, columns 31-33WS, the Department no longer publishes statistics at a regional level. Figures for the rest of the United Kingdom are a matter for each devolved Administration.
	The number of long-term empty homes in England has fallen by nearly 20,000 between 2011 and 2012 and by over 40,800 since 2010.

Families: Disadvantaged

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government when he expects to have completed working with the 120,000 troubled families he has identified.

Brandon Lewis: The current troubled families programme aims to turn around the lives of 120,000 troubled families by the end of the current Parliament in May 2015. The programme is on track: as of March 2013, 152 upper-tier councils in England have already identified more than half (66,000) of their families, and more than 35,000 of the 120,000 troubled families are already being worked with.

Fire Services

Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many positions are available for the redeployment of fire and rescue service workers who no longer meet the physical standards for operational roles in (a) Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service and (b) the UK.

Brandon Lewis: The Department does not keep data on the level or nature of vacancies in fire and rescue authorities. Fitness standards are an operational matter for individual fire and rescue authorities.

Fire Services

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prevent a mutual organisation running fire and rescue services facing competition from the private sector at a later stage;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the legislative changes that will be required to prevent any mutual organisation running fire and rescue services being subject to open competition in the future.

Brandon Lewis: holding answer 3 July 2013
	I refer the hon. Member to my speech in the Adjournment debate of 13 May 2013, Official Report, columns 470-76, in which I laid out the Government's position on supporting locally-led mutuals in the fire and rescue service, and that we are not opening the door to wholesale privatisation.

Housing: Construction

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what advice he has given to the Planning Inspectorate on judging whether local authority assessments of future housing requirements comply with the National Planning Policy Framework.

Nicholas Boles: The Strategic Housing Market Assessment Practice Guidance August 2007, remains in place pending the outcome of the Government's review and can still be used to identify future housing requirements where relevant to the National Planning Policy Framework. We plan to publish guidance on assessing future housing need in the summer.
	In addition, Ministers meet with the Planning Inspectorate from time to time to discuss matters in relation to planning to ensure a consistent approach is being taken.

Housing: Construction

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what advice he has given to local authorities on providing evidence that housing development sites can be considered viable or deliverable.

Nicholas Boles: The National Planning Policy Framework sets out that local planning authorities should identify a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide five years worth of housing against their housing requirement, and also identify a supply of specific, developable sites or broad locations for growth, for years six to 10 and, where possible, for years 11 to 15. The Framework defines what is meant by “deliverable” and “developable” in footnotes 11 and 12 on page 12 of the document.
	The Framework also sets out policies on viability, and says that the sites and scale of development identified in a local plan should not be subject to such a scale of obligations and policy burdens that their ability to be developed viably is threatened. In addition, as set out in the Budget, the Government will publish significantly reduced planning guidance by summer 2013, which will include guidance on viability.

Housing: Construction

Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will publish guidance on when local planning authorities can refuse applications for major housing development that predetermine decisions to be made in local plans; and if he will make a statement.

Nicholas Boles: The existing guidance on prematurity, set out in the “Planning System: General Principles”, is included in the review of government planning practice guidance.

Public Expenditure

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment he has made of the equality impact of his Department's spending reductions since 2010; whether this assessment has been used to inform his planning ahead of the 2013 comprehensive spending review and with what result; what plans he has to publish the equality impact assessments undertaken by his Department as a result of the upcoming comprehensive spending review; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government considers equality issues in exercising its functions, including in setting priorities within its budget, in order to comply with equality legislation and to ensure it understands how its activities will affect specific groups in society.
	We provided HM Treasury with an equalities assessment of our main areas of expenditure, as well as some additional areas of spending that have particular equalities impacts, both before and during the spending round process.
	DCLG's overall spending round submission was informed by its own equality assessments and by the spending review equalities assessment commissioned by HM Treasury.
	The Government have been clear that producing formal equality impact assessment documents is not required in order to ensure compliance with the legal responsibility to consider equality impacts.
	The assessment of equalities feeds into both spending round decisions and future decisions by DCLG. The outcome of the spending round was published on 26 June 2013.

Right to Buy Scheme

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Pudsey of 3 June 2013, Official Report, column 1221, on right-to-buy scheme, which local authorities have refused his Department's offer to help promote the Right to Buy.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 18 June 2013
	After the important measures announced at Budget, I wrote to all stock-owning local authorities, offering support to inform tenants of their Right to Buy. This includes delivering Right to Buy tenant roadshows in partnership with them in the local area.
	To date, Right to Buy events have been held in Hammersmith and Fulham, Wandsworth, Croydon, Basildon, Milton Keynes, Bournemouth, Doncaster and Swindon. Others, following initial contact, such as Brighton and Hove, Cannock Chase, Crawley, Enfield, Harlow, Havering, Kingston upon Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Norwich, Sheffield, Southampton, Southwark and Wigan, have declined to organise such events. I would urge them, together with like minded authorities to rethink and ensure that their tenants are well informed. Should they change their minds, we stand ready to help organise.
	I visited the excellent Basildon roadshow, and have seen at first-hand the value tenants place on receiving advice and help to explore home ownership further. I would encourage all stock-owning local authorities to consider the needs of their tenants and work with my Department to help inform tenants about the Right to Buy.

Urban Areas: Regeneration

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what progress he has made following the Portas Review into high streets towards introducing an explicit presumption in favour of town centre development in the wording of the National Planning Policy Framework.

Mark Prisk: As explained in the Government's response to the Portas Review the National Planning Policy Framework asks local councils to recognise town centres as the hearts of their communities and pursue policies to support their viability and vitality. It sets out clearly that local councils should require new town centre uses to be located in existing town centres out of preference. Only if there are no suitable and viable town centre locations for new town centre uses should consideration be given to siting such development outside of town centres. In considering proposals for town centre uses that can only be located outside of existing town centres, i.e. where there are no suitable and viable sites in town centres, our policy requires that the proposal is not granted permission where it would have a likely significant adverse impact on existing town centres.

Vacancies

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his Department's vacancy rate was in 2012-13; and what vacancy rate has been assumed for 2013-14.

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not keep a central record of job vacancies as responsibility for recruitment lies with individual line managers.
	Since October 2011 the Department's headcount has fallen by 416 full-time equivalent staff to the end of May 2013. The Department operates a limit on headcount, currently 1,760 full-time equivalent staff, and any recruitment will be constrained by that limit going forward.
	The Department's major programme of restructuring has reduced headcount by 37% on a like-for-like basis with the October 2010 baseline position.
	Based on current estimates (which reflect accounting consequences from machinery of government changes), the DCLG Group is reducing its annual running costs by 41% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2014-15. This equates to net savings of at least £532 million over this spending review period and includes savings of around £420 million from the closure of the Government offices for the regions.

Vending Machines

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many vending machines in his Department's premises contain snack foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value.

Brandon Lewis: We do not centrally hold information on our local offices which we share with other agencies, where the facilities management is run by other partners.
	Notwithstanding, as is common practice in work places across the country, I can confirm that we have one vending machine in each of our core departmental offices in Victoria and Bristol which serve confectionary/snacks.
	We do not intend to adopt a nanny state approach by removing them: Our catering supplier provides healthy eating options in our canteen, including fresh and seasonal produce. This Government believe in choice in public services.
	I would observe that the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister signed a facilities management contract in 2004 which required that there ‘must be top-selling brands' of chocolate in the vending machine for the First Secretary of State.
	Ministers in this Administration would regard that as over-specification.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Business: Loans

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many members of staff currently working in his Department on the interim business bank have been recruited externally from the private sector.

Michael Fallon: The team working on the business bank project in the Department consists of civil servants and staff recruited externally from the private sector. Five secondees have been brought in from the private sector to work on the project; a number of the Department's staff working on the project also have relevant private sector experience.

Business: Loans

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many applications his Department has received for funds under his Department's Investment Programme as part of the business bank proposals announced on 10 April 2013; and what the total aggregate monetary value is of the applications for funds received to date under the Investment Programme.

Michael Fallon: As at 1 July the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was in receipt of 58 preliminary expressions of interest from a wide variety of lenders. These are being assessed by the Investment Programme team prior to applicants being invited to submit Formal Proposals. A number of applicants that have submitted Expressions of Interest have already been asked to submit a Formal Proposal and to date one formal proposal seeking funding of £50 million has been received. The early interest received is encouraging and the Investment Programme remains open to new applications.

Business: Loans

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills by what date he plans to announce successful bidders under the Investment Programme.

Michael Fallon: I expect to announce the first successful bidders under the Investment Programme in the autumn.

Business: Security

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills who the members of his Department's Security Standards Working Group are; and what support is offered to small businesses to participate.

David Willetts: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is running a call for evidence on organisational standards for cyber security, and eventually the selection of a preferred standard for organisational cyber security.
	Industry stakeholders—among others—have expressed an interest in the call for evidence. These industry stakeholders are collaborating to run a security standards working group workshop to consider their response to BIS's call for evidence.
	An official will be attending the event to observe; but the group is not led by Government.

Derby Economic Response Taskforce

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much was spent on the Derby Economic Response Taskforce between July 2011 and August 2012; what assessment he has made of the Taskforce's achievements; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: During the lifespan of the Derby Economic Response Task Force the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills incurred only minimal costs, to cover the chair's expenses.
	At the Task Force's conclusion (16 July 2012), partners agreed that it had played a valuable role in bringing people together to meet the shared challenge of mitigating the impact of potential job losses. As a direct result of the Task Force's work, a £40 million Regional Growth Fund Round 2 award was made to help strengthen supply chain and innovation capacity within the local economy, diversification into new markets and for creating new business opportunities.
	I have no plans to make a further statement.

English Language: Education

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the Statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of 26 June 2013, Official Report, column 315, on the Spending Review, what additional resources his Department plans to provide for the delivery of ESOL provision for jobseekers in receipt of benefit.

Matthew Hancock: We are considering how to deliver the additional English language provision for jobseekers announced in the Spending Review, with details to be announced in due course. The resource implications for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will be addressed as the approach is finalised. The implementation of the conditionality package will not impact on existing levels of provision.

EU Grants and Loans: Liverpool

Louise Ellman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what criteria he applied in determining the allocation of EU funding for Liverpool city region in the period 2014 to 2020; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Fallon: On 26 March the Government announced that for 2014-20 England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would each receive an equal 5% reduction in relation to their overall European regional development fund (ERDF) and European social fund (ESF) allocation for 2007-13.
	In England, the allocations of ERDF and ESF for 2013 set the baseline for allocations for the 2014-20 funding period.
	All transition regions, including Merseyside, will receive an equal c.20% uplift based on their UK spending commitment against the EU budget for 2013. Halton is in the Cheshire NUTS 2 region. Cheshire is designated as a ‘more developed' category and will receive a c.5% uplift based on its UK spending commitment against the EU budget for 2013.
	4.3% of England's overall budget for ERDF and ESF was reserved by Government. This will fund a part contribution towards programme administration costs and also a contribution towards a service to support prisoners from prison and into paid employment upon their release.
	Allocations on the basis of NUTS 2 geographies were then converted to LEP areas on the basis of population statistics. Liverpool city region will receive its share of the Cheshire allocation based on the population for Halton and 100% of the Merseyside allocation.
	Allocations were then converted to LEP area on the basis of population statistics.

Further Education: Overseas Students

Adrian Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he plans to take in response to the findings of his Department's research report, Evaluation of the value of Tier 4 international students to FE colleges and the UK economy, published in April 2013.

Matthew Hancock: The purpose of the research was to establish the extent of international student recruitment in publicly funded further education colleges and to assess the value of these students to further education colleges and the UK economy.
	The findings will be used as appropriate in relation to future international activity in the FE sector.

Green Investment Bank

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills for what reasons the borrowing powers of the Green Investment Bank in 2015-16 have been limited to borrowing from Government rather than from capital markets.

Michael Fallon: The Government have made clear their plans to give the Green Investment Bank (GIB) scope to borrow from the capital markets once targets have been met on reducing public sector net debt as a percentage of GDP. We will continue to keep this matter under review. Giving the GIB scope to borrow up to £500 million of its £800 million funding for 2015/16 from HM Treasury's National Loans Fund is a sensible step to take in advance of reaching that point, giving the Bank the opportunity to demonstrate it can make a profit operating with funds borrowed on commercial terms.

Industrial Disputes: Military Bases

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what reports he has received on (a) the state of industrial relations between ISS contractors and trades unions at certain RAF stations and (b) recent industrial actions by trades union members following the collapse of pay talks with ISS; if he will intervene to encourage talks to resolve the situation; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Swinson: We have not received any reports on the state of industrial relations between ISS contractors and trade unions. The Government consider that the resolution of disputes is a matter for the parties involved. Therefore, it would not be appropriate for me to comment on the specific details of this case.
	The Government believe that strikes should be a last resort and that it is better to resolve disputes through dialogue wherever possible. The independent Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) stands ready to assist the parties in reaching an agreement, where they both accept its involvement.

New Businesses: Young People

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many businesses created as a result of funding from the start-up loan scheme are in each parliamentary constituency.

Michael Fallon: The Department does not hold constituency data for the start-up loans programme and does not require the Start-Up Loans Company to provide disaggregated data at this level.

New Businesses: Young People

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many recipients of funding from the start-up loan scheme have been (a) female and (b) male.

Michael Fallon: At 1 July 2013 the current split is 64% male, 34% female by volume.

New Businesses: Young People

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what comparative assessment he has made of sectoral growth as a result of funding from the start-up loan scheme.

Michael Fallon: The first loan made under the start-up loans programme was drawn down in September 2012. As such, it is too early to make a valid assessment of growth impacts by sector. At 31 March 2013 the spread was as follows (subject to final audit):
	
		
			  Percentage 
			 Accommodation and food services 6.1 
			 Activities of households as employers 0.1 
			 Administrative and support services 5.7 
			 Agriculture, forestry and fishing 0.1 
			 Arts, entertainment and recreation 7.9 
			 Construction 5.3 
		
	
	
		
			 Education and training 2.7 
			 Electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supplies 0.3 
			 Environmental services 0.5 
			 Financial and insurance activities 0.3 
			 Health/beauty and hair/fitness 8.1 
			 Human, health and social work activities 1.4 
			 Information and communication 16.8 
			 Manufacturing 8.6 
			 Other personal service activities 9.5 
			 Professional, scientific and technical services 3.6 
			 Real estate activities 0.9 
			 Transportation and storage 1.3 
			 Wholesale and retail trades 21.0 
			  100

New Businesses: Young People

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what comparative assessment he has made of regional allocation of funding from the start-up loan scheme.

Michael Fallon: Funding for the start-up loans programme is not allocated on a regional basis, but is distributed according to demand. The current spread of funding is:
	
		
			  Percentage 
			 East England 5.8 
			 West Midlands 6.8 
			 South West 5.7 
			 North West 17.3 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 9.6 
			 South East 8.6 
			 Greater London 34.8 
			 East Midlands 5.6 
			 North East 5.8

New Businesses: Young People

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the average age of recipients of funding from the start-up loan scheme is.

Michael Fallon: The Start-Up Loans Company reports that the average age of loan recipients is 25.5 years.

Oil: Canada

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the potential value to UK businesses working to support the development of the Canadian oil sands.

Michael Fallon: Canada has the world's third largest proven crude oil reserves, with 97% of Canada's proven oil reserves found in Alberta's oil sands; only about 16% of these 169.3 billion barrels is currently under development. The monetary value of these reserves is subject to prevailing market rates. So far there has been no assessment on the accessible value from the oil sands for UK business.
	Since 2008 12 UK companies have opened offices in Alberta following their accessing of UKTI market services, and are supplying goods and services to the oil sands industry including in recruitment, cabling, waste recovery, software, imaging and project management. We also maintain close and regular dialogue with major UK investors in the Canadian oil and gas sector, including with BP, Shell and Amec.

Serco

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Serco; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Jo Swinson: Since 2008 the Department has spent the following amounts with Serco Ltd:
	
		
			  £ 
			 2008 943,289 
			 2009 13,543,222 
			 2010 6,310,024 
			 2011 828,782 
			 2012 540,387 
			 2013 (to 30 June) 83,635

Sky Lanterns: Sales

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what consideration he has given to reviewing the availability for sale of Chinese lanterns.

Jo Swinson: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has responsibility for consumer product safety issues. Evidence suggests that the risk to consumers by the sale of sky lanterns is extremely low, and as such we do not see the need to restrict their availability. However, following the incident at Smethwick recycling plant over the weekend, BIS continues to liaise closely with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for Communities and Local Government on the wider issues attributed to the release of sky lanterns.

Students: Loans

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the likely effects of the announcement in spending round 2013, Cm 8639, that the resource accounting budget for higher education student loans will increase to £4.4 billion in 2015-16.

David Willetts: The BIS student loan resource accounting budget (RAB) falls outside the Office for National Statistics definition of PSCB (public sector current budget). The student loan resource accounting budget is used to ensure control over the long-term costs of the student loan book, but does not directly impact the fiscal aggregates.
	The resource accounting budget for FY2015-16 of £4.4 billion is not directly comparable with the FY2014-15 baseline figure of £2.9 billion set in 2010, because of changes since 2010 including the following:
	macroeconomic conditions, which have increased the RAB charge to around 35%;
	increases to repayments thresholds since 2010;
	the introduction of further education loans since 2010.
	The total outlay on student loans will increase between FY2014-15 and FY2015-16 as a result of a higher proportion of students being eligible for higher fee loans. Decisions have not yet been taken on rates of tuition and maintenance loans in academic year 2015/16.

Vending Machines

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many vending machines in his Department's premises contain snack foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value.

Jo Swinson: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has five vending machines installed on its premises. The machines stock a variety of confectionery and soft drinks.
	A selection of healthier snack options such as fresh fruit can be purchased in BIS staff restaurants and coffee bars throughout the day.
	BIS also has a choice of healthy food items on its weekly restaurant menus and has a traffic light system detailing nutritional information about each dish:
	Red—this dish is either high in dairy products and or deep fried
	Amber—this dish contains dairy products or has been shallow fried
	Green—this dish is healthy and has been cooked using minimal oil, char grilled or oven roasted
	Salt is not available on the dining tables.

Vocational Training

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what estimate his Department has made of how many young people aged between 18 and 24 will enrol on a traineeship in the academic year 2013-14;
	(2)  how much funding from its apprenticeship and adult skills budget he expects his Department to allocate for the delivery of traineeships in the academic year 2013-14.

Matthew Hancock: Traineeships for 19 to 24-year-olds will be funded from the overall Adult Skills Budget, not from the estimated funding amount within the Adult Skills Budget to support adult apprentices.
	It is our intention that traineeships will be a demand-led programme therefore the number of places funded will reflect the number of employers and education and training providers who choose to offer a place and the number of eligible young people who wish to take one.

DEFENCE

Armed Forces

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  how many members of the armed forces re-entered civilian life after less than four years of service in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012;
	(2)  how many members of the armed forces re-entering civilian life after less than four years of service possessed five A*-C grades at GCSE in (a) 2010, (b) 2011 and (c) 2012.

Mark Francois: holding answer 2 July 2013
	The number of personnel leaving the armed forces after less than four years in service is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Number of personnel 
			 2010 6,490 
			 2011 5,730 
			 2012 5,440 
		
	
	The number of personnel leaving the armed forces after less than four years in service and who have recorded that they possess five A*-C grades at GCSE is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Number of personnel 
			 2010 740 
			 2011 920 
			 2012 1,100 
		
	
	There is no mandatory requirement for service personnel to record their qualifications, and therefore these figures are the best available, but not fully validated. We are aware of cases in which personnel have recorded A levels but not GCSEs (a pre-requisite to A levels) but these are not captured in the tables.
	The armed forces provide exceptional through-life education and training opportunities, and for some of those who may not have been academically successful, offer an entirely new approach to learning, providing transferable skills useful within their service career and in the wider world.
	All numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. Numbers ending in five have been rounded to the nearest 20 in order to prevent systematic bias.

Armed Forces

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his policy is on armed forces personnel working as contractors to steward RAF graduation events; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Francois: Personnel wishing to seek external off-duty employment, during service, are required to seek approval from their commanding officer. There is no specific policy covering graduation events.

Billing

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average cost to his Department was of processing the payment of an invoice in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of invoices settled in that period his Department paid (a) electronically and (b) by cheque.

Mark Francois: The number of individual invoices paid electronically or by cheque is not held centrally, and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	The proportion of total payments made electronically and by cheque during financial year 2012-13 was 99.41% and 0.59 % respectively.
	Information regarding the average cost to pay an invoice is currently being collated as part of a pan-Government benchmarking exercise. I will write to my hon. Friend as soon as it is available.

Falkland Islands

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the cost to the public purse was of producing the study of deaths among Falklands veterans published by Defence Statistics on 14 May 2012; and of the 25,948 UK armed forces personnel identified in that study as having received the South Atlantic medal, how many received that medal (a) with and (b) without distinguishing rosette.

Mark Francois: The cost of producing the study of deaths among Falklands veterans was some £15,800. These costs were associated with identifying and flagging the cohort on the NHS Information Centre database and providing regular updates on the current circumstances of those individuals. The Ministry of Defence staff costs were covered by core funding. With regard to the awarding of medals, of the 25,948 issued 25,190 personnel received the medal with rosette and 758 without it.

Joint Strike Fighter Aircraft

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many British (a) civilian and (b) service personnel are involved in the F-35 pilot and maintainer training at Eglin US Air Force Base.

Andrew Robathan: There are currently 16 British service personnel and no British civilian personnel involved in F-35 pilot and maintainer training at Eglin US Air Force Base.

Military Aircraft

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will estimate the value of the (a) Typhoon, (b) Hawk, (c) Tornado, (d) Hercules, (e) Globemaster, (f) Tucano, (g) Sentry, (h) Shadow and (i) King Air aircraft fleets.

Andrew Murrison: The current value of each aircraft fleet is shown in the following table. The values quoted reflect the net book value (NBV) of the fleet, which is calculated by adding the cost of any major upgrades to the original capital cost of each asset and deducting depreciation to reflect the decrease in value of an asset over time. The values quoted bear no relation to the replacement costs of the assets and capabilities, nor can they be used to calculate an accurate cost per aircraft.
	
		
			 Aircraft Total NBV(£ million) 
			 Typhoon 6,347 
			 Hawk Tl 29 
			 Hawk T2 343 
		
	
	
		
			 Tornado 804 
			 Hercules 647 
			 Globemaster 691 
			 Tucano 10 
			 Sentry 387 
			 Shadow(1) 72 
			 King Air 350(2) 17 
			 (1) The figure for Shadow comprises the NBV plus assets in the course of construction yet to be formally transferred onto the Fixed Asset Register and the sixth aircraft, which is due for delivery at the end of July 2013. (2 )The King Air 200 aircraft is not owned by the Ministry of Defence (MOD). It is operated under a lease arrangement and is not therefore recorded as an asset on the MOD balance sheet. No NBV is available.

Military Bases: West Sussex

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which units are currently stationed at the army base on Thorney Island, West Sussex.

Mark Francois: The Major Units currently based at Baker Barracks, Thorney Island are 12 Regiment Royal Artillery and 47 Regiment Royal Artillery.
	Additional units hosted at Thorney Island include HQ Thorney Island Station, the Dental Centre Thorney Island, and the Medical Centre Thorney Island.

Military Bases: West Sussex

Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the current and anticipated future uses of the runways at the army base at Thorney Island, West Sussex are.

Mark Francois: The Ministry of Defence has no current or planned use for the runways at Thorney Island although there is some low level use of the airfield by civilian flying clubs.

Military Decorations: World War II

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the average time taken to process an application for the Arctic Star is; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Francois: In the awarding of new medals I am advised that the usual time scale, from the announcement to the design and production of the medal, would be approximately one year. Given the age of the veterans, the Ministry of Defence has managed to reduce the time scale to just three months.
	Due to the high number of applications, currently 4,262 from surviving veterans, 1,991 from widows and 8,933 from next of kin, 15,186 in total, priority is being given to veterans due to their age. The current processing time for living veterans is two months. Next of kin applications will start being assessed in September.

Nuclear Accident Response Organisation

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence at which locations Ministry of Defence Nuclear Accident Response Organisation teams are based.

Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) maintains a national Nuclear Accident Response Organisation (NARO) to respond to incidents or emergencies, including any arising through terrorist acts, involving a range of Defence assets.
	The MOD NARO is made up of specialists, subject matter experts and capabilities that are drawn from across the MOD and its agencies including, where appropriate, components based at Defence nuclear sites, which would be used in response to any nuclear incident or emergency.

Nuclear Weapons

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 20 June 2013, Official Report, column 790W, on nuclear weapons, (a) what nuclear emergency response capability is available at HM Naval Base Clyde and (b) what arrangements there are to deploy nuclear emergency experts from HM Naval Base Clyde to advise civil emergency responders in the event of an accident involving a nuclear weapon in Scotland or the north of England.

Andrew Murrison: Her Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde operates a Nuclear Emergency Response Organisation, which consists of a command structure and the response forces available to respond to a nuclear emergency at the base.
	HMNB Clyde provides a team to support nuclear weapon emergency arrangements across the UK. This team is on constant notice to move and includes specialist nuclear weapon technicians to assist the civil emergency services. It has the capability to establish control at an emergency site, recover any UK Defence nuclear material, undertake decontamination, provide advice on the protection of the public and ensure effective site recovery.

Nuclear Weapons

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  at which defence nuclear sites local liaison committees have been established to allow engagement with local stakeholders; which of these committees include representatives from independent non-government and non-industry groups; which of these committees allow members of the public to attend and observe meetings; and which of these committees publish minutes of meetings on a publicly accessible website;
	(2)  if he will place in the Library copies of the terms of reference and standing orders of each local liaison committee representing a defence nuclear site.

Andrew Murrison: Defence nuclear sites with a Local Liaison Committee (LLC) are as follows:
	Her Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Clyde;
	HMNB Devonport—Devonport Royal Dockyard;
	The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE);
	Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE);
	Rolls-Royce Marine Power Operations, Derby;
	Rosyth Royal Dockyard; and
	BAE Systems Marine, Barrow.
	There is no prescribed structure for an LLC. Each LLC comprises representatives from the local community but, given the diverse roles of the defence related nuclear licensed sites, the type of representation varies between them, and is a matter for the individual site licensee.
	The HMNB Devonport and Vulcan NRTE LLCs are open for members of the public to observe.
	The following LLCs publish minutes of their meetings online at the following addresses:
	HMNB Devonport
	http://www.babcockinternational.com/about-us/responsibilities/community/devonport-royal-dockyard/devonport-local-liaison-committee/
	The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE)
	http://www.awe.co.uk/aboutus/Local_Liaison_Committee_b1478.html
	Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE)
	http://www.dounreaystakeholdergroup.org/documents/
	Terms of reference of each LLC will be placed in the Library of the House.

Radioactive Waste: Fife

Gordon Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  if he will instruct action to begin the clean-up work at Dalgety Bay beach immediately;
	(2)  if he will provide funding for the remedial action plan clean-up of Dalgety Bay beach;
	(3)  if he will continue the monitoring of Dalgety Bay radiation until the clean-up work is completed;
	(4)  if he will direct the Scottish Environment Protection Agency not to designate Dalgety Bay as radiation-contaminated.

Andrew Murrison: As the regulator it is for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to decide if designation is appropriate at Dalgety Bay. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is considering the findings of SEPA's appropriate person report, and will comment in due course. We will continue to monitor the beach without prejudice in accordance with our agreed position.

Serco

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Serco; and how much was spent in each year since 2008. [Official Report, 8 October 2013, Vol. 568, c. 1-2MC.]

Andrew Murrison: Expenditure on Ministry of Defence (MOD) contracts with Serco is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Financial year Expenditure (£ million) 
			 2008-09 666.6 
			 2009-10 652.7 
			 2010-11 642.5 
			 2011-12 625.3 
			 2012-13 645.9 
			 2013-14 (to 30 June 2013) 174.2 
		
	
	These figures include expenditure by MOD Trading Funds, but do not include payments which may have been made on behalf of other Government Departments by the MOD's executive non-departmental public bodies (which lie outside the MOD's accounting boundary), locally by the Department, through third parties such as prime contractors or other Government Departments and in relation to collaborative projects where the payments are made through international procurement agencies or overseas Governments. Payments made by Government Procurement Card are also not included.
	Since January 2011, central Government Departments have been required to publish on Contracts Finder information on the contracts they award:
	www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/
	In addition, Departments publish details of spend in excess of £25,000.

HOME DEPARTMENT

British Nationality

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications to have a child's birth registered under section 3(1), section 3(2) or section 3(5) of the British Nationality Act 1981, where the child concerned was the illegitimate child of a British citizen father, have been (a) approved and (b) refused since April 2008.

Mark Harper: holding answer 3 July 2013
	The Home Office does not record the requested data. Obtaining the information would incur disproportionate costs.

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the procedure is for the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre paying for costs of recovery of evidence from internet service providers when investigating cases of online child abuse.

James Brokenshire: Much of the evidence in online child abuse cases will derive from communications data. Communications service providers may be required to disclose communications data under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. Any costs incurred by them in complying with these obligations may be recovered, with the majority recovered from law enforcement agencies, based on their use of communications data.

Community Policing

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the effect of policing reforms on community policing.

Damian Green: Much of our reform to policing has been targeted specifically on improving local policing. We have swept away central targets and red tape to free up more officers to work on the frontline. Police and crime commissioners, regular beat meetings, and the publication of street-level crime and antisocial behaviour data and crime outcomes information on police.uk are making policing more transparent, accountable and accessible to local communities.
	These reforms are working: recorded crime has fallen by more than 10% during this Government and the 2011-12 Crime Survey for England and Wales shows that just under two thirds of adults thought that the police in their area were doing a good or excellent job.

Correspondence

Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  if it is her policy that hon. Members have presumed consent when meeting representatives on behalf of their constituents and their relatives concerning visit visas and immigration and nationality matters; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  if she will clarify the policy of her Department in response to representations from hon. Members on behalf of their constituents; and if she will make a statement;
	(3)  whether it is now the policy of her Department to refuse to provide information to hon. Members who make representations on behalf of their constituents;
	(4)  if she will clarify the use by her Department of the Data Protection Act 1998 as justification for refusing to provide a substantive reply to representations from hon. Members.

Mark Harper: holding answer 2 July 2013
	Disclosure of information to MPs is governed by the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).
	MPs can access information about the Home Office's policy in relation to the release of information to MPs on its website at:
	www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/aboutus/informationformps/
	This information details the circumstances under which a full or a limited third party response will be issued to MPs.

Crime: Databases

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) arrests, (b) deportations and (c) investigations have been made as a result of the allegations database since it came into operation.

Mark Harper: Since 30 September 2012, when the Allegations Management System (AMS) was introduced, allegations have resulted in 2,695 investigations with visits by Immigration Enforcement officers, 1,840 arrests and 660 removals. This figure includes deportations and administrative removals.
	The arrest and visits data are taken from the National Offenders Database (NOD) and the removals information is from the Case Information Database (CID). The data cover the period up to the end of May 2013.
	Notes:
	1. All figures quoted are management information which has been subject to internal quality checks. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.
	2. The numerical information contained within has been rounded to the nearest five.

Crime: Databases

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many allegations the allegations database has received since it came into operation.

Mark Harper: The allegations database came into operation on 30 September 2012. From this date until 30 June 2013 it had received 48,660 allegations. The allegations data is taken from the Allegation Management System (AMS).
	Notes:
	1. All figures quoted are management information which has been subject to internal quality checks. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols.
	2. The numerical information contained within has been rounded to the nearest five.

Devolution

Margaret Curran: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will place in the Library any concordats which her Department or the public bodies for which she is responsible have with the devolved Administrations.

James Brokenshire: The Memoranda of Understanding and Supplementary Agreements, agreed in September 2012, set out the principles which underlie the relationship between the UK Government and the devolved Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These documents are available in the House Libraries.
	The Home Office is currently discussing a concordat with the Welsh Government and with the Scottish Government. Once agreed they will be published online through the Cabinet Office website and copies placed in the House Libraries.
	Each public body is responsible for any concordat it has agreed with counterparts in the devolved Administrations, and for providing information on them. This information is not retained centrally.

Domestic Violence: Hampshire

Gordon Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  what the terms of reference are for the reducing bureaucracy pilots in respect of domestic violence complaints in the county of Hampshire;
	(2)  what methodology her Department used to inform the reducing bureaucracy pilots in respect of domestic violence complaints in Hampshire;
	(3)  what evaluation she has made of Phase 1 of the reducing bureaucracy pilots on domestic violence in Hampshire.

Jeremy Browne: The pilot was set up under the then joint Association of Chief Police Officers/Home Office Reducing Bureaucracy Programme Board, chaired by Chief Constable Chris Sims, and is currently transferring to the College of Policing. The aim of the pilot was to develop a proportionate and risk based approach to responding to reports of domestic abuse.
	Development of Phase 1 of the pilot was informed by published academic research and consultation with academic experts in the study of domestic violence.
	The evaluation of Phase 1 of the pilot consisted of a process evaluation to understand how the pilot affected the process of risk identification and management. Issues arising from Phase 1 are now informing the development of the next phase of the pilot.

Drugs: Crime

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of trends of those who take legal highs moving on to take illegal drugs; and if she will make a statement.

Jeremy Browne: The Government have not made an estimate of trends in the number of individuals who take new psychoactive substances (NPS), or so-called “legal highs”, moving on to take illegal drugs.
	The Government take the issue of NPS use very seriously and are leading the global effort to tackle the threat they pose. Although sometimes referred to as “legal highs”, NPS cannot be assumed to be safe and often contain a mixture of substances including controlled drugs.
	We are working with the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) to develop our evidence base and with wider partners to target these drugs on all fronts. The NPS Action Plan, which provides the framework for Government activity, sets out how we aim to reduce demand by raising awareness of the harms associated with NPS; make it difficult to obtain and supply NPS that pose risks to health; and ensure that statutory services are able to effectively provide treatment and recovery.

Drugs: Crime

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the annual cost to her Department of policing illegal highs; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: The Home Office has not made an estimate of the annual cost of policing illegal highs.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Adrian Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of students with a Tier 4 visa approving study in a (a) university, (b) further education college and (c) private college (i) enrolled in the institution, (ii) remained until the end of the course and (iii) returned to their home country in the last three years.

Mark Harper: We do not hold data in a form which allows us to answer the questions posed.
	On an individual sponsor basis, the Home Office can manually match and reconcile data to identify students that have enrolled at an institution and remained until the end of the course. However, providing data for all Tier 4 Sponsors covering over 300,000 Confirmations of Acceptance to Study (CAS) annually would require a large scale and disproportionately costly data reconciliation process.
	Similarly, reconciling data on all Tier 4 students that have returned to their home country would also require a large-scale reconciliation process.
	The Home Office can readily provide data on CAS issued by sponsors; CAS used by applicants; successful visa applicants; and on sponsor reporting of non-attendance.

Entry Clearances: Overseas Students

Adrian Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what proportion of Tier 4 visa applications to study in a (a) university, (b) further education college and (c) private college were refused by the UK Border Agency in each of the last three years.

Mark Harper: There were 74,365, 39,728 and 19,506 decisions to refuse Tier 4-General Student visa applications (for main applicants) in 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively. This represented 23%, 15%, and 10% of decisions in this category each year.
	Corresponding information is not available for individual educational sectors.
	The latest Home Office immigration statistics, including those for entry clearance visas, are published in the release Immigration Statistics January-March 2013, which is available from the Library of the House and on the Department's website at:
	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/series/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release

Hizb-ut-Tahrir

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether Hizb-ut-Tahrir is active on UK university campuses; and what assessment she has made of the level of any such activity.

James Brokenshire: As outlined in the Prevent Strategy 2011 we believe there is unambiguous evidence to indicate that some extremist organisations, including Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HuT), target specific universities and colleges (notably those with a large number of Muslim students) with the objective of influencing and recruiting students to support their agenda. We are aware of a small number of universities in the UK where HuT have an influence.
	We keep the threat of extremism on university campuses under review, and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills works with universities and Student Unions to ensure they are aware of the risks and are given support, advice and guidance to help them manage these. The recently appointed Prevent regional co-ordinators for Further and Higher Educational institutions are identifying pockets of extremist ideology in universities, and helping to equip institutions and student groups to challenge those ideas.

Immigration Controls

Stephen McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 3 June 2013, Official Report, columns 908-9W, on immigration controls, for what reason the number of visits exceeded the number of applications in 15 out of the 24 months in the figures given.

Mark Harper: Home Office officials may visit a sponsor for a number of reasons or on one or more occasion. They may visit before or after a licence is granted, or as part of a scheduled review of a sponsor's licence. Sponsors may also request a visit.

Immigration: Appeals

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what proportion of immigration appeal cases her Department withdrew its decision on the day of the hearing in each of the last three years.

Mark Harper: A complete set of data for all appeal types is not held centrally and the information requested can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Immigration: Married People

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have had their spousal visa cancelled in each year since 2008.

Mark Harper: In answering this question we have taken “cancelled” to mean spousal visas that were granted and subsequently the applicants' leave was curtailed.
	
		
			 Table 1: Curtailed spousal applications, despatched between January 2008 and March 2013 
			 Decisions despatched Spouse/partner curtailed 
			 2008 536 
			 2009 426 
			 2010 418 
			 2011 226 
			 2012 180 
			 2013 58 
			 Notes: 1. The figures quoted have been derived from management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. This information has not been quality assured under National Statistics protocols. 2. Figures relate to main applicants only. 3. Data relate to curtailments dispatched between 1 January 2008 and 31 March 2013. 4. Data relate to sponsor visas and applications curtailed. 5. Curtailment data relate to both spouse and partner applications. These data cannot be disaggregated to show spouse applications only.

Recruitment

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in which newspapers the post of (a) Director of Immigration and Visas and (b) Director of Enforcement has been advertised; and what the cost has been of such advertising.

Mark Harper: This question is answered on the basis that the director of immigration and visas refers to the director general, UK visas and immigration and the director of enforcement refers to the director general, immigration enforcement.
	We expect to advertise the role of director general, immigration enforcement on the external market shortly. The advertising strategy has not been finalised. The role of director general, UK visas and immigration will be advertised later in the year.

Salvation Army

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated cost of the Salvation Army's Trafficking Support Scheme will be in 2013-14; and what the cost of this scheme was in (a) 2011-12 and (b) 2012-13.

Mark Harper: For 2013-14, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice have allocated £3 million to fund the Salvation Army adult victim care contract in England and Wales.
	The cost of the contract in 2011-12 was £2 million and, in 2012-13, was £3 million.
	The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice keep the funding position under review.

Serco

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much her Department currently spends on contracts with Serco; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

James Brokenshire: For the last full financial year, 2012-13, the Home Department's total expenditure on contracts with Serco was £109.1 million.
	The Home Department's expenditure on contracts with Serco since financial year 2008-09 is detailed in the following table. Spend figures for the current financial year 2013-14 are not yet available.
	
		
			 Financial year Expenditure (£ million) 
			 2008-09 122.7 
			 2009-10 105.1 
			 2010-11 92.1 
			 2011-12 89.6 
			 2012-13 109.1

UK Border Agency

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the budget of the UK Border Agency was in each year of its establishment.

Mark Harper: The Budgets for the UK Border Agency for the financial years 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 are detailed in the Annual Reports that can be found on the Home Office website via the following link
	http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/annual-reports-accounts/
	The details of the UK Border Agency budget for 2012-13 will be published shortly.

Connaught Asset Management

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what investigations HM Revenue and Customs plans to make into the Connaught Income Series 1 Fund over alleged fraudulent activity; and what investigations her Department has already made on this matter.

David Gauke: I have been asked to reply 
	on behalf of the Treasury.
	HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is legally prohibited from discussing the tax affairs of identifiable businesses.
	Section 18 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 imposes a duty of confidentiality upon officers of HMRC which means they are unable to disclose information which relates to functions of HMRC. This includes any specific action taken in response to information provided.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Broadband

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment she has made of local authorities' capacity to match-fund the further £250 million in funding for superfast broadband which has been proposed for 2015.

Edward Vaizey: Local authorities and the devolved Administrations have allocated over £700 million of funding from local funds and the European regional development fund for the current rural broadband projects, reflecting the priority that these bodies give to implementation of superfast broadband. The Government are confident that they will continue to recognise the benefits of investing in broadband delivery.

Digital Broadcasting: North Yorkshire

Andrew Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she has taken to improve the digital television signal for residents of (a) North Yorkshire and (b) Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency.

Edward Vaizey: Ofcom estimates that 98.5% of UK households have access to 17 channels including public service broadcasting (PSB) services on the digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform, and just under 90% of households are also able to receive these and additional DTT channels. Around 1.5% of UK households cannot easily receive DTT services with less than 0.5% not able to receive DTT services at all. However, DTT, cable and satellite digital television services together cover practically 100% of UK households, so that in all but the most exceptional of cases, everyone should be able to get digital television by one means or another. As well as subscription services, digital satellite TV offers non-subscription reception options for a one-off equipment and installation cost, but with no on-going monthly payments. There are no plans to require broadcasters to improve the DTT coverage levels agreed for digital television switchover in 2006.
	The current DTT coverage figures for North Yorkshire and the Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency are set out in the table.
	
		
			 Percentage 
			 Area DTT Services 3 PSB Multiplexes (access to 17 channels including PSB channel) DTT Services All 6 National Multiplexes (access to all channels on DTT) 
			 North Yorkshire 98 86 
			 Harrogate and Knaresborough 100 99 
		
	
	Coverage is dependent on viewers having suitable rooftop aerials that are directed to the most technically appropriate transmitter for the specific address, and also depends on there being no significant localised obstructions such as trees or tall buildings within (or near) the path between the viewer's aerial and the transmitter. Viewers can check which transmitter serves their own location with Digital UK on 08456 50 50 50 or at
	www.digitaluk.co.uk/coveragechecker

Glastonbury Festival

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will estimate the financial effects of the Glastonbury music festival on the (a) local and (b) national economy.

Edward Vaizey: The Glastonbury music festival is a great example of the strength and diversity of the UK's live music industry. While we produce economic estimates on the value of the creative industries to the UK economy, including the music industry, we do not do so for specific music festivals.

Internet: Children

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will publish the minutes of and list the attendees at the recent internet and child safety summit held by her Department.

Edward Vaizey: Attendees at the internet summit on 18 June are listed as follows. While no formal minutes were taken, a number of actions were agreed. These were: all attendees signing a ‘zero tolerance' pledge in relation to child abuse images online; a new proactive role for the IWF and CEOP; additional funding from a number of internet service providers to support this new proactive role; the adoption of ‘splash pages' by all relevant organisations by the end of June, and; for all attendees to report to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport within one month on the opportunities for greater use of technology to support the new proactive approach in removing child abuse images.
	Maria Miller MP, Secretary of State, DCMS
	Damian Green MP, Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice, Home Office
	Edward Timpson MP, Minister for Children and Families, DFE
	Claire Perry MP, Prime Minister's adviser on the sexualisation and commercialisation of children
	Internet Watch Foundation
	CEOP
	Yahoo
	Google
	Microsoft
	Twitter
	Facebook
	British Telecommunications
	British Sky Broadcasting
	Virgin Media
	Talk Talk
	Vodafone
	O2/Telefonica Europe
	Everything Everywhere
	Three UK

Music: Festivals and Special Occasions

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make an assessment of the benefits to the economy of the music festival industry.

Edward Vaizey: The UK's creative industries and tourism are among the sectors with the greatest potential to drive economic growth. While we produce economic estimates on the value of the creative industries to the UK economy, including the music industry, we do not do so for the music festival industry.

Public Lending Right

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps she plans to take to prevent infringement of intellectual property rights resulting from the lending of e-books and audio books by public libraries; and whether she plans to commence the provisions in the Digital Economy Act 2010 that extend public lending right to e-books and audio books.

Edward Vaizey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 1 July 2013, Official Report, column 458W.

Public Libraries

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what discussions she has had with (a) other government departments and (b) non-governmental bodies on strengthening the role of libraries in (i) promoting digital and other forms of literacy and (ii) providing access to public computers in (A) areas of serious deprivation and (B) other areas, and otherwise furthering national policy.

Edward Vaizey: holding answer 1 July 2013
	I recently had discussions with the Minister for Civil Society, my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (Mr Hurd) and I am due to meet Ministers in the Cabinet Office, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Communities and Local Government on the Government digital agenda in the provision of the library services. In addition, Arts Council England (ACE) as an arms-length body of Government has identified four priorities to sustain and develop a 21st century public library service including making the most of digital technology and creative media. While many public library services run by the local authorities across England already promote digital literacy and provision of access to computers and the internet, the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) in partnership with ACE and The Reading Agency, launched the Universal Offers initiative in January 2013 which included the Universal Digital Offer that defined the minimum a public library authority should provide and what customers should expect from their public library. This includes free access to the internet for every customer for a minimum period of time and staff trained to help customers access digital information. This initiative is being rolled out across public libraries in England during 2013.

S4C

Guto Bebb: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what the percentage change is in her Department's funding for S4C over the next two years.

Edward Vaizey: The following table sets out S4C's allocation for the financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15 and the percentage change between those years.
	
		
			 £ million 
			  Total funding From DCMS From BBC 
			 2013-14 82.861 6.561 76.3 
			 2014-15 82.787 (1)6,787 76 
			 (1) +3.4%.

Serco

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department currently spends on contracts with Serco; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Maria Miller: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has incurred no expenditure with Serco from 2008 to the present, nor does the Department have any current contracts with Serco.

Staff

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department spent on (a) recruitment agency fees, (b) outplacement agency fees for displaced or redundant staff and (c) staff training in each of the last 12 months.

Edward Vaizey: The information is as follows:
	(a) Recruitment agency fees are contained within the invoices submitted by the agency, the rate of charge will vary depending on the individual candidate’s pay rates but this charge is not separately identified on the invoice hence the Department is unable to separate agency charges from the overall payment to the agency for each candidate.
	(b) The Department paid outplacement fees for displaced or redundant staff of £63,000 in October 2012.
	(c) The amount the Department spent on staff training and development in total in the last 12 months is set out in the table:
	
		
			  Cost (£) 
			 April 25,903.00 
			 May 3,730.50 
			 June 3,336.30 
			 July 5,219.30 
			 August 3,124.46 
			 September 0 
			 October 34,445.64 
			 November 20,091.10 
			 December 992.80 
			 January 3,945.38 
			 February 20,331.00 
			 March 11,986.68 
			 Total 133,106.16

Telecommunications

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport whether she plans to publish a White Paper on a draft Communications Bill.

Edward Vaizey: The Government have been working closely with industry and others to see how we can improve our digital infrastructure and ensure proper protections are put in place for consumers. We will be taking action where necessary, and will set out our strategy and vision for the sector shortly.

Training

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many officials in (a) her Department and (b) the non-departmental public bodies for which she is responsible enrolled in publicly-funded training courses in each of the last five years; what the total cost has been of such courses; and what the monetary value was of the 10 highest training course fees in each such year.

Edward Vaizey: DCMS does not hold central data for the number of delegates attending training courses—attendance is authorised and responsibility devolved to line managers to ensure individuals are getting the training and learning they need to do their jobs and develop their competences. The monetary value for the total cost of courses and the 10 highest training course fees in each year are detailed as follows.
	DCMS does not hold data for its public bodies.
	2012-13
	Total cost of courses: £102,866.
	Monetary value of 10 highest training course fees in the year:
	1. £30,000
	2. £12,500
	3. £9,500
	4. £6,500
	5. £4,850
	6. £4,386
	7. £3,756
	8. £3,215
	9. £1,611
	10. £1,611
	2011-12
	Total cost of courses: £110,102.
	Monetary value of 10 highest training course fees in the year:
	1. £12,500
	2. £10,966.80
	3. £10,800
	4. £9,125
	5. £9,012
	6. £5,760
	7. £5,400
	8. £1,290.60
	9. £636
	10. £500
	2010-11
	Total cost of courses: £324,698.
	Monetary value of 10 highest training course fees in the year:
	1. £13,500
	2. £11,162
	3. £10,950
	4. £10,950
	5. £10,950
	6. £9,204
	7. £7,578
	8. £7,507
	9. £7,123.20
	10. £6,765
	2009-10
	Total cost of courses: £525,068.
	Monetary value of 10 highest training course fees in the year:
	1. £21,936
	2. £17,450
	3. £15,170
	3. £12,097
	4. £12,000
	5. £11,979
	6. £10,500
	7. £10,500
	8. £10,089
	9. £9,100
	10. £8,828
	2008-09
	We do not hold records for this period.

Travel

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much her Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) Government Car Service, (b) private hire vehicles, (c) taxis, (d) rail, (e) aviation and (f) other means in each year of the current Parliament.

Edward Vaizey: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport spend on car services for ministerial travel through the Government Car Service, is set out in the table. Details of the costs for 2012-13 will be published in the normal way later this year. The Department spend on other forms of ministerial travel is also included in the following table:
	
		
			 £ 
			  Ministerial cars through GCS Taxis Other cars T and S/Overseas (including rail and flight travel) Totals 
			 2009-10 305,397.32 4,225.33 937.92 32,870.00 343,430.57 
			 2010-11 90,739.92 3,247.80 637.92 28,755.00 123,380.64 
			 2011-12 1,740.81 11,596.69 1,637.45 47,646.00 62,620.95 
			 2012-13 n/a 10,185.00 0.00 42,257.00 52,442.00 
			 Total 397,878.05 29,254.82 3,213.29 151,528.00 581,874.16

Vending Machines

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many vending machines in her Department's premises contain snack foods that are high in calories and low in nutritional value.

Edward Vaizey: The supply and maintenance of vending machines on the Department's premises is provided under the private finance initiative contract for the building for HMRC. The Department does not hold this information.

HEALTH

ABP Food Group

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what inquiries his Department has made into (a) the beneficial ownership of the network of companies associated with the ABP Food Group and their relationship with Larry Goodman, (b) the frauds he is known to have committed and (c) the investigations into fraudulent mis-labelling of meat in Northern Ireland.

Anna Soubry: We understand from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that after consideration of all emerging evidence, the beneficial ownership of the network of companies associated with the ABP Food Group and their relationship with Larry Goodman was not deemed to fall under the scope of the FSA investigations.
	It was not within the remit of the FSA investigations to consider any other alleged frauds involving Larry Goodman that have been investigated in the past.
	The FSA led a number of investigations into the contamination of beef products with horse and pig DNA. Inquiries were made by local authorities into ABP owned businesses as part of these investigations and there was no evidence to suggest that there were any illegal activities to pursue.
	The FSA is aware of one investigation being conducted by a local authority in Northern Ireland which involves the fraudulent mis-labelling of meat. This is a live investigation being conducted under police warrant, and the FSA cannot provide any further information at this point so as not to prejudice that investigation and any potential legal action that may flow from it. There is no association between this investigation and the ABP Food Group or Larry Goodman.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of (a) consultants, (b) registrars and (c) nurse practitioners working in accident and emergency departments in England in each of the last 10 years.

Daniel Poulter: The annual NHS workforce census published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre shows the number of consultants and registrars working in accident and emergency departments in England at 30 September each year. The numbers working in accident and emergency departments in England in each of the last 10 years are shown in the following table. We are unable to identify nurse practitioners who work specifically within accident and emergency departments as they are not separately identified in the annual census.
	
		
			 Hospital and Community Health Services: medical staff in the accident and emergency specialty group: England at 30 September each year 
			 Full-time equivalents 
			  Consultant Registrar group 
			 2002 511 334 
			 2003 544 406 
			 2004 596 551 
			 2005 665 686 
			 2006 697 778 
			 2007 720 1,643 
			 2008 790 1,871 
			 2009 906 1,873 
			 2010 1,013 2,016 
			 2011 1,100 2,117 
			 2012 1,230 2,127 
			 Note: Data quality The Health and Social Care Information Centre seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality. Where changes impact on figures already published, this is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: Health and Social Care Information Centre Medical and Dental

Accident and Emergency Departments

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of doctors choosing to specialise in emergency medicine following their (a) Foundation Year 1 and (b) Foundation Year 2 in each of the last 10 years.

Daniel Poulter: The breakdown of the number of Foundation Year 2 doctors who chose to specialise in emergency medicine is not available centrally.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of national training posts for emergency medicine were unfilled in each of the last five years.

Daniel Poulter: The following information provided by Health Education England shows the Emergency Medicine ST4 training and vacancy numbers from 2011-13.
	
		
			  Total number of posts Total number of vacancies 
			 2011 202 119 
			 2012 196 110 
			 2013 235 139 
			 Source: Health Education England 
		
	
	It should be noted that information for years 2009 and 2010 is not held centrally due to the national recruitment system being implemented in 2011.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of unfilled posts in accident and emergency departments in each hospital trust in England in each of the last five years.

Daniel Poulter: The information in the following tables is taken from the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) Vacancies Survey March 2010 and March 2009. The surveys focus on vacancies within NHS hospital and community health services. This information has not been collected and held centrally since March 2010.
	HSCIC can provide vacancy data by strategic health authority (SHA) area and organisation for consultants with an accident and emergency specialty. Data provided are for consultants, as specialty data within the vacancy collection were gathered for consultants only. The figures quoted are the numbers of vacancies which employers were actively trying to fill as at 31 March in each year. Top line data relating to each SHA area are publicly available on the HSCIC website.
	
		
			 Accident and Emergency vacancies 2010 2009 
			 England (Total) 91 82 
			 North East SHA area 1 2 
			 North West SHA area 24 9 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber SHA area 8 3 
			 East Midlands SHA area 5 3 
			 West Midlands SHA area 18 7 
			 East of England SHA area 3 0 
			 London SHA area 14 30 
			 South East Coast SHA area 5 4 
			 South Central SHA area 5 5 
			 South West SHA area 8 20 
			 Special health authorities and other statutory bodies 0 0 
			 Source: HSCIC Vacancies Survey 2010 and 2009 
		
	
	
		
			 Accident and Emergency vacancies 2010—Breakdown by organisation 
			  Number 
			 England (total) 91 
			 North East SHA area 1 
			 North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 North West SHA area 24 
			 Royal Bolton Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 East Cheshire NHS Trust 1 
			 North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
			 Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 16 
			 Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust 1 
			 Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 4 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber SHA area 8 
			 Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 6 
			 The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 Scarborough And North East Yorkshire Health Care NHS Trust 1 
			 East Midlands SHA area 5 
			 Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust 1 
			 West Midlands SHA area 18 
			 The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 5 
			 George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust 1 
			 Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust 2 
			 University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust 9 
			 East of England SHA area 3 
			 Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
			 London SHA area 14 
			 Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust 2 
			 Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust 2 
			 Barts and The London NHS Trust 1 
			 The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust 1 
			 Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust 4 
			 West Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust 1 
			 Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust 1 
			 The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust 2 
			 South East Coast SHA area 5 
			 Dartford And Gravesham NHS Trust 1 
			 Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust 3 
			 Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 1 
			 South Central SHA area 5 
			 Isle of Wight NHS PCT 2 
			 Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 3 
			 South West SHA area 8 
			 Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
		
	
	
		
			 Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
			 South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 Weston Area Health NHS Trust 1 
			 Special health authorities and other statutory bodies 0 
			 Source: HSCIC Vacancies Survey 2010 
		
	
	
		
			 Accident and Emergency vacancies 2009—Breakdown by organisation 
			  Number 
			 England (total) 82 
			 North East SHA area 2 
			 City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Trust 1 
			 North West SHA area 9 
			 East Cheshire NHS Trust 1 
			 East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
			 Lancashire Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Trust 2 
			 Wrightington, Wigan And Leigh NHS Trust 3 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber SHA area 3 
			 Rotherham General Hospitals NHS Trust 2 
			 Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Health Care NHS Trust 1 
			 East Midlands SHA area 3 
			 Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust 2 
			 University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust 1 
			 West Midlands SHA area 7 
			 North Staffordshire Hospital NHS Trust 2 
			 University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust 4 
			 East of England SHA area 0 
			 London SHA area 30 
			 Guy's and St Thomas's NHS Foundation Trust 19 
			 King's College Hospital NHS Trust 5 
			 Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust 1 
			 North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust 1 
			 Queen Mary's Sidcup NHS Trust 1 
			 Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust 2 
			 Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust 1 
			 South East Coast SHA area 4 
			 East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
			 Medway NHS Trust 1 
			 Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust 2 
			 South Central SHA area 5 
			 Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust 5 
			 South West SHA area 20 
			 Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 8 
			 Poole Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
			 Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust 3 
			 Salisbury Health Care NHS Trust 1 
			 The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 United Bristol Healthcare NHS Trust 3 
			 Weston Area Health NHS Trust 2 
			 Special health authorities and other statutory bodies 0 
			 Source: HSCIC Vacancies Survey 2009.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to prevent low staffing levels in accident and emergency departments in England.

Daniel Poulter: The Department has mandated Health Education England (HEE) to urgently review the workforce issues in emergency medicine and produce recommendations this year to address workforce shortages for both the short and long term.
	HEE has been created to ensure the national health service has the right staff with the right skills, values and behaviours in the right place at the right time, in the right numbers. This includes working to deliver new generations of skilled staff to areas where there is established need, as well as working to support employers in encouraging existing staff to work in these areas. This includes our accident and emergency departments (A&E). The taskforce looking into the issue of A&E staffing is due to report in summer 2013 and HEE will work with colleagues across the NHS and in education to deliver the actions it recommends.

Alcoholic Drinks and Drugs: Harlow

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how much his Department has spent on drug rehabilitation in Harlow in each year since 2005;
	(2)  how much his Department has spent on alcohol rehabilitation in Harlow in each year since 2005.

Anna Soubry: Information on spending on alcohol and drug treatment in Harlow is not collected centrally.
	The treatment of drug dependence among residents of Harlow in the period 2005-06 to 2012-13 was supported by money allocated by the Department to Essex primary care trust through the Adult Pooled Treatment Budget. The allocations covering Essex in this period are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 2005-06 4.7 
			 2006-07 6.1 
			 2007-08 5.7 
			 2008-09 5.6 
			 2009-10 5.5 
			 2010-11 4.9 
			 2011-12 5.0 
			 2012-13 5.4 
		
	
	From April 2013, alcohol and drug prevention, treatment and recovery activity are funded from a ring-fenced grant allocated to local authorities to fund all of their public health responsibilities.
	In 2013-14, Essex's public health grant allocation is £48.9 million.
	Each local authority is free to determine their actual spend on alcohol and drug prevention, treatment and recovery based on an assessment of need. They will be required to report their spending in these areas on an annual basis.

Alcoholic Drinks: Drugs

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many women have been admitted to hospital with symptoms of drink spiking in each of the last six years.

Anna Soubry: The information which is collected centrally about hospital admissions for drug poisoning does not say whether a drug was administered via a spiked drink.

Cocaine

Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been admitted to hospital as a result of cocaine use in each of the last six years.

Anna Soubry: Data on the number of hospital admissions are collected by finished admission episodes rather than by number of people. Data on the number of finished admission episodes to hospital with a primary diagnosis associated with cocaine use for each year since 2006- 07 are given in the following table. It is important to note that finished admission episodes do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year
	
		
			 Finished admission episodes where the primary diagnosis is associated with cocaine use, 2006-07 to 2011-12 
			  Finished admission episodes 
			 2006-07 1,086 
			 2007-08 1,376 
			 2008-09 1,375 
			 2009-10 1,025 
			 2010-11 1,107 
			 2011-12 1,027 
			 Notes: 1. A finished admission episode (FAE) is the first period of inpatient care under one consultant within one health care provider. FAEs are counted against the year in which the admission episode finishes. Admissions do not represent the number of inpatients, as a person may have more than one admission within the year. 2. Primary diagnosis codes used: F14.0 Mental and behaviour disorder due to the use of cocaine: acute intoxication. F14.1 Mental and behaviour disorder due to the use of cocaine: harmful use. F14.2 Mental and behaviour disorder due to the use of cocaine: dependence syndrome. F14.3 Mental and behaviour disorder due to the use of cocaine: withdrawal state. F14.5 Mental and behaviour disorder due to the use of cocaine: psychotic disorder. F14.7 Mental and behaviour disorder due to the use of cocaine: residual & late-onset psychotic disorder. F14.8 Mental & behaviour disorder due to the use of cocaine: other mental and behaviour disorder. F14.9 Mental & behaviour disorder due to the use of cocaine: unspecified mental and behaviour disorder. R78.2 Finding of cocaine in blood. T40.5 Poisoning by Cocaine. 3. HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. Source: Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), Health and Social Care Information Centre

Cystic Fibrosis

Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to facilitate the increase in lung donation for transplantation in respect of patients with cystic fibrosis; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: We have a number of initiatives to encourage people to add their name to the Organ Donation Register (ODR). Much of this work is led by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) in conjunction with a number of partners in the private, public and third sectors. For example, people may sign up to the ODR when they register with a new general practitioner, when applying for a new passport, when applying for a European Health Insurance Card and when applying for a Boots advantage card. We have established a prompted choice scheme, working in partnership with the Department for Transport and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, which requires people applying for a driving licence on-line to consider organ donation.
	NHSBT also run multi media campaigns, education programmes in schools and community engagement programmes to raise awareness of organ donation and promote registration on the ODR. They also organise National Transplant Week, an annual event to raise awareness of organ donation, to motivate people to act and join the ODR and to discuss their wishes with their loved ones. Transplant Week 2013 will take place between 8-14 July.
	We have also set up the National Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Transplant Alliance to increase the number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people on bone marrow and whole organ registers, and to increase donation rates in those communities.
	During the past five years we have seen a 50% increase in organ donors and 30% more organs being transplanted than five years ago, which will have benefitted those affected by cystic fibrosis and the need for a lung transplant. However, there is a still lot to do. NHSBT will shortly be publishing their strategy ‘Taking Organ Transplantation to 2020’. The strategy builds on the Organ Donation Taskforce recommendations and identifies new ways to make sure that as many people as possible in the United Kingdom receive the transplant they need.

Diabetes

Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the treatment and prevention of diabetes will remain a priority for his Department.

Anna Soubry: Diabetes remains a priority for this Government.
	The Department's NHS Outcomes Framework and Mandate outline the improvements in health and health care that we envisage the national health service achieving.
	Through the Mandate, we have asked NHS England to make measurable progress towards making the NHS among the best in Europe at supporting people with on-going health problems such as diabetes to live healthy and independent lives, with better control over the care they receive.
	Diabetes is also included in the Cardiovascular Disease Outcome Strategy, published in March 2013, which reiterates our commitment to the NHS Health Check programme. NHS England will be working with Public Health England to make the NHS Health Check programme as effective as possible, helping to reduce people's risk of developing diabetes through advice on lifestyle factors and the earlier diagnosis of diabetes.
	The Department, through Public Health England, has provided ring-fenced funding for the first time to local authorities to tackle problems such as obesity which can prevent diabetes.
	Alongside this, we are working with businesses in the food and drink industry through the Public Health Responsibility Deal to help people make healthier choices.

Drugs: Misuse

Nick de Bois: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many accident and emergency (a) attendances and (b) admissions relating to (i) illegal drug use and (ii) legal high use there were (A) in total and (B) in each hospital trust in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many people aged (a) 0 to 18 and (b) 19 and above were admitted to hospital following the abuse of (i) illegal drugs and (ii) legal highs in each of the last three years for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Anna Soubry: The information which is collected centrally about hospital admissions does not separately identify newer substances such as legal highs or identify whether a drug has been taken legally or illegally. For example, the information collected on opiate related admissions does not distinguish between opiates that have been prescribed for a medical reason and opiates taken to get ‘high'.

Health Services: Yorkshire and the Humber

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many NHS staff in Hull and East Yorkshire Primary Care Trust were paid over (a) £50,000, (b) £65,738 and (c) £100,000 in each of the last three years for which figures are available.

Daniel Poulter: As part of the changes brought about by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, primary care trusts were legally abolished on 1 April 2013. At the time of their closure there was no organisation known as the Hull and East Yorkshire Primary Care Trust (PCT). However, there were two separate PCTs, Hull Teaching PCT and East Riding of Yorkshire PCT. The figures provided as follows are for these two organisations.
	
		
			  Number of staff in Hull Teaching PCT Number of staff in East Riding of Yorkshire PCT 
			 Salary 31 March 2013 31 March 2012 31 March 2011 31 March 2013 31 March 2012 31 March 2011 
			 Over £50,000 33 28 35 42 33 47 
			 Of which:       
			 Over £65,738 13 11 12 27 19 17 
			 Of which:       
			 Over £100,000 4 1 1 3 2 2 
		
	
	These figures are sourced from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, NHS Staff Earnings Estimates. They represent staff paid using the NHS Electronic Staff Record system. They are based on the actual basic pay that an individual earned in March each year, multiplied by 12. They do not include redundancy payments or bonuses.

Heart Diseases

Jake Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 3 June 2013, Official Report, column 840W, on heart diseases, what steps have been taken by NHS England, working with the Resuscitation Council, the British Heart Foundation and others, to consider ways of increasing the numbers of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation; and what steps NHS England plans to take to inform the public how they can increase their chances of surviving a heart attack.

Anna Soubry: NHS England is currently considering how best to take forward work on this in light of recent discussions about reducing mortality. It currently has no immediate plans to run an awareness campaign on either cardiopulmonary resuscitation training or on how people can increase their chances of surviving a heart attack.
	NHS England gave a commitment to work with the Resuscitation Council and the British Heart Foundation and others to consider ways of increasing the numbers of people trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the cardiovascular disease strategy. NHS England will provide details of the way in which it is taking forward this commitment in due course.

Hernias

Naomi Long: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it his policy to recognise 28 June as Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Awareness Day.

Daniel Poulter: It is not the Department's role to initiate awareness days, as that is up to individual charities and organisations, but we would be content to offer support to an event of this kind.

Hospitals: Fast Food

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many fast-food franchises are operating on NHS hospital sites in England;
	(2)  what guidance his Department and NHS England issue to hospitals on the sale of foods high in fat, sugar and salt in retail and food outlets on hospital sites.

Daniel Poulter: Decisions on food franchises in hospital sites are made locally. Information is not collected centrally on the number of such franchises in operation. Likewise, any discussions about the food on offer are held locally and are the responsibility of those who agree the contracts between the trust and the outlet.
	The Department and a number of its agencies issue guidance on food served by the national health service to patients, staff and visitors. Some of this guidance refers specifically to retail and food outlets.
	Government Buying Standards for Food and Catering Services (Food GBS), launched in June 2011, cover nutrition and sustainability aspects of food provision. Whilst not mandatory for hospitals, NHS organisations are encouraged to adopt the Food GBS, which include recommendations on reducing fat and salt, including more fruit and vegetables on the menu and making sure food is bought in an environmentally sustainable way.
	There is guidance that caterers could use to help provide food that meets the nutritional needs of adults working in NHS organisations—Public Health England is planning an update to this guidance. This guidance—“Healthier and more sustainable catering: A toolkit for serving foods to adults”—can be found on the Department's website:
	www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/147376/dh_127593.pdf.pdf
	The Department also encourages employers to sign up to the Responsibility Deal's pledge on healthier staff restaurants. This specifically mentions fat, salt and sugar as well as other recommendations on fruit and vegetables and portion size. Further information is available on the Department's website:
	https://responsibilitydeal.dh.gov.uk/health-at-work-pledges/
	The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence published guidance in December 2006 for the NHS on tackling obesity: “Guidance on the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children”. It includes recommendations that the NHS as an employer should actively promote healthier choices in restaurants, hospitality, vending machines and shops. This guidance can be found at:
	www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/11000/30364/30364.pdf
	NHS England does not have responsibility for issuing guidance to NHS trusts on the sale of foods.

Methadone: Harlow

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many registered methadone users there have been in Harlow in each year since 2005; and what the average spend on each such methadone user has been in that period.

Anna Soubry: Figures on the number of people receiving prescribed opioid substitute treatment with methadone and the cost of their treatment in Harlow are not collected centrally.

Serco

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department currently spends on contracts with Serco; and how much was spent in each year since 2008.

Daniel Poulter: Information on departmental spend with Serco for all financial years from 2008-09 to 2012-13 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 £ 
			  2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 
			 Serco Listening Ltd 734,646 477,223 275,570 59,438 5,086,717 
			 Serco Public Services Ltd 3,480,017 3,676,016 4,230,890 3,720,615 3,784,906 
			 Serco Ltd n/a 27,421 32,020 n/a n/a 
		
	
	In July 2008, the Department implemented a new business management system (BMS) which collects enhanced detail on the categorisation, purpose and value of orders. This has now given the Department the scope to be more specific about the nature of each categorisation. However, information on the period of engagement prior to this is not held on BMS.

Surgery

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what factors contribute to surgeons' performance data;
	(2)  what steps he plans to take to ensure that surgeons are not discouraged from taking on complex cases with high risk because of possible effects on their performance data;
	(3)  what research he has (a) evaluated and (b) commissioned on the possible effects on patient outcomes of (i) publishing surgeons' performance data and (ii) publicly naming surgeons who do not publish performance data.

Anna Soubry: NHS England began the staged publication of mortality rates for individual hospital consultants in 10 specialties, leading a drive to give patients more information about their treatment, helping the national health service drive up and maintain the quality of care.
	It is intended that publishing outcomes will encourage professionals to implement treatment options that are proven to be most effective for high risk patients, enabling an increased number of high risk patients to successfully undergo surgery.
	Where possible, data are adjusted to take into consideration the risk of a procedure on patients with different risk factors. Improvements in risk adjustment methodologies will be stimulated by putting data into the public domain.
	There will inevitably be a small number of outliers, which is where the consultant's data is outside an expected range. A surgeon could be an outlier due to the difficult cases that they undertake and it does not necessarily reflect an issue in performance. It is important that the data are reviewed by experts so that the published data are properly understood by all.
	Monitoring and evaluation of data on performance outcomes will be conducted by NHS England and the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership which will include surgeons taking on complex cases with high risks.
	In adult cardiac surgery, where results have been published at consultant level since 2005, there is no evidence that publication encourages risk averse behaviour. There has been an annual increase in high risk patients receiving cardiac surgery in the United Kingdom. Despite these high risk patients being given the option of surgery, mortality rates have actually gone down significantly.
	NHS Choices will act as the central hub of information and specialist societies and audits are encouraged to be innovative in the way that data are presented in order to stimulate further research.
	The Department has not commissioned any research specifically surrounding the effects on patient outcomes from the surgeon performance data and publicly naming surgeons who do not publish performance data.